If you’re reading this article, (or any other article on this site for that matter) you are most likely a huge fan of horror. It probably takes a lot to scare you now, after all the years of being desensitized from large amounts of blood and gore displayed onscreen.
You know times have changed when people go see movies like Hostel and say, “Meh. I thought it was going to be a lot gorier. It’s as if we need to be physically revolted to be truly affected by anything anymore. The funny thing is we all have certain movies that scare the living daylights out of us, and probably bore to tears other people. It’s because a lot of us have some kind of irrational fear or phobia that has been displayed in a horror film.
For instance, a hard-core horror fan may be able to stomach Cannibal Holocaust, yet if he or she saw the huge f*cking rat, Ben in Willard, they might run and turn off their DVD player. (Suriphobia happens to be my fear.) I know most of you are hard core horror fans, but I guarantee every one of you have been freaked out by some kind of movie dealing with your personal phobia.
Here’s a list of movies dealing with the most common types of phobias. *If I don’t mention yours, use the Spitting Bullets section to comment on it. Btw…Did you know Hippopotomonstrosequippedaliophoiba is the fear of LONG WORDS?? I don’t know about you, but I find that pretty f*cking funny.
WARNING – SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
1. Arachnophobia-Arachnophobia (fear of Spiders)
Was there any doubt in your mind that this wasn’t going to be number one on this list? Spiders may not be one of your fears, but it happens to be the most common phobia amongst people. It’s funny how these “eight legged freaks” can strike so much fear into people.
I know grown ass men who have no fear of getting into fights, yet show them a spider and they will run away screeching higher than Mariah Carey does in everyone of her damn songs. After watching this movie, I was scared of turning on lamps, eating food from a bowl, and basically smacking myself constantly for the rest of the evening thinking something was on me. *Shiver*
2. Final Destination-Aerophobia (fear of flying)
Ironically enough, I remember seeing this flick after contemplating whether I wanted to go to France with my French class when I was in high school. Needless to say, I didn’t end up going. Everyone says flying is the safest way to travel. Yeah, well at least in a car accident you have a chance of surviving. I still know many people who won’t see this movie for the fear of being scared to the point of never being able to go on a plane again.
3. It-Coulrophobia (fear of clowns)
With people who are severly scared of clowns, IT is probably the most frightening movie they’ve never seen. Just showing the box cover of Tim Curry dressed up as the infamous killer clown, Pennywise will make them run away screaming like they were guests on a Maury Povich show. Never has there been a T.V. movie that has invoked so much fear into people. To think if they actually made an uncut theatrical version that was true to Stephen King’s novel. I shudder to think.
4. The Descent-Claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces)
Claustrophobia is probably my biggest phobia on this list. Every time I was in a tiny elevator, one of my old boyfriends used to make out with me to distract me and prevent me from hyperventilating. (Needless to say, we would freak out a lot of people in the process)
So you could imagine how I was when seeing one of the main characters in this film get herself stuck in a small, enclosed space in the cave. The minutes of screen time she was stuck felt like hours. I was freaking out, and the creatures hadn’t even appeared yet! I thought the feeling of claustrophobia would pass once the creatures showed up. Boy, was I wrong!
5. Jaws- Selachophobia and Hydrophobia (fear of sharks and water)
“Don’t go into the water.” The tagline says it all, doesn’t it? When this movie came out in 1975, I bet there were increasing amounts of people buying swimming pools instead of going to the beach. I can’t even swim and maybe deep down this movie is the catalyst for that. (Or, I’m just a sad loser who is blaming a movie on my inability to swim…) To this day, the poster stills creeps me out.
6. Pitch Black-Achluophobia (fear of darkness)
As children, a lot of us had the same fear of the dark. I know a lot of adults now that still have the same fear. My ex roommate still needs a night light when she goes to bed. I guess the dark can be scary. Your mind making you believe the shadows and shapes you are seeing are really things or strange creatures going bump in the night. That’s why this movie scared a lot of achluophobics, because it played on that fear with the creepy alien creatures hunting its prey in the complete dark.
7. The Exorcist-Emetophobia (fear of vomit)
I know you may be thinking the fear of the devil is probably the fear that better suits this movie, but according to an interesting article I read in a magazine recently, the fear of vomiting or seeing someone vomit is like the seventh most common phobia.
I thought that was complete nonsense until I thought of the times of how scared I was when I was sitting beside one of my drunk ass friends in a cab going home from partying, or sitting beside someone on a roller coaster with their hand over their mouth. Now it makes sense. Seeing Linda Blair spew pea soup vomit all over the priest was enough to make even audience members throw up themselves. (If this movie made you sick, don’t ever the parody of it in Scary Movie 2)
8. Copycat-Agoraphobia-(fear of going outside)
Agoraphobia is probably the most serious phobia on this list. It’s no joke, and quite a few people have it. It mostly stems from something traumatic that has happened to someone which makes them too scared of leaving their own home. I don’t recommend any agoraphobic to watch this movie where a serial killer breaks into Sigourney Weaver’s apartment and tries to kill her. It was so freaky to watch, because she knew she had to escape, but couldn’t because of her fear. Yeesh!
9. Anaconda- Ophidiophobia-(fear of snakes)
Sure most people thought this movie was a joke. Once seeing the obviously CGI snakes sliter around, and a “winking” Jon Voight being regurgitated out of a snake’s stomach took many people out of the movie. But that wasn’t the case for the people who are freaked out by snakes. It only scared them more knowing that there were actual snakes out there THAT big.
10. Child’s Play- Pediophobia (fear of dolls)
I know a lot of people who are afraid of dolls. They’re f*cking creepy. For my generation, Child’s Play was really enforced that fear being that it was the first film we were introduced to the infamous killing machine, “Good Guy” doll Chucky. (My mother swears that the doll in Karen Black’s Trilogy of Terror was far more terrifying.)
I know people who would hide their stuffed animals and toys in the closet. I never went that far. I just checked my toys that needed batteries to function actually did have batteries in them, because the scene where the batteries fell out of the box was extremely frightening for me as a child.
