Beware – you may come out of these movies with newfound phobias. Not for the faint hearted, they play on our worst fears and reinforce them.
If you already have a phobia, say arachnophobia, you probably don’t go looking for movies with spiders. But in some cases, you may go to a movie without knowing how dramatically it will shock and frighten you. You may not be aware of how afraid you are of heights, snakes, or tight spaces until you see a movie that plays on and intensifies those fears. Of course, only you can know what you fear most, but the movies on this list were chosen because they explore or address common phobias. For the intrepid viewer in all of us, here are eight movies to watch that will give you new phobias.
127 hours (2010)
If you suffer from claustrophobia, or the fear of enclosed spaces, we recommend that you steer clear of Danny Boyle’s 127 hours. No other film so accurately captures the feeling of being trapped in a tight space. To make matters worse, 127 hours is based on the true story of a hiker, Aron Ralston, who gets stuck between a boulder and a cliff face while hiking in Utah (more on this from The Guardian). After seeing what Ralston must do to escape this predicament, you’ll want to put all your hiking plans on hold for a while.
Free Solo (2018)
Acrophobia, or fear of heights, is quite common as far as phobias go. The classic movie phrase “Don’t look down” appeals to all acrophobes, but rock climber Alex Honnold is not one of them. Free only is a documentary about Honnold’s attempt to solo climb the 900-meter El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park in California. “Free solo” means that you climb without ropes or other protective equipment. Watching Honnold climb a cliff using only his bare hands and some chalk will give you vertigo in a whole new way.
Jaws (1975)
Steven Spielbergs Jaws is one of the most infamous phobia movies ever made. It’s no easy task to get away from the movie without developing a newfound (or reinforced) fear of sharks. You may find yourself avoiding large bodies of water, or staying home from a beach trip with your friends. CBS News even reports Which Jaws “caused a generation of people to develop galeophobia – an irrational fear of sharks.” When you hear the ominous tones of the Jaws musically themed, you might find yourself developing galeophobia as well.
The Birds (1963)
When you think of phobias, you usually don’t think of a fear of birds. But ornithophobia is real, and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The birds is his cinematic expression. If you find all this a bit crazy, check it out The birds in a darkened room can change your mind. After that, you may find yourself looking to the sky for winged threats, or watching sparrows with a newfound suspicion. You at least know the destruction of which frenzied, violent birds are capable.
Enemy (2013)
Now if we were talking about spiders we could have included the infamous Arachnophobia on this list. But we think of Denis Villenueve Enemy evokes a fear of spiders in a more interesting way. It’s not a movie about spiders – not at all – but this makes it all the more disturbing when they appear. Arachnophobic viewers expecting grounded drama will be shocked by the (seemingly random) images of spiders that pop up throughout the film. It’s worse because you can’t or can’t expect them. Even the less squeamish among us can suffer from it Enemyarachnoid images.
Underwater (2020)
Thalassaphobia, or the fear of large bodies of water, is another common phobia, one that movies have tapped into for years. Starring Kristen Stewart, Underwater is a recent example that builds a horror film around the fear not only of the open ocean, but of its depths. Located on a drilling site at the foot of the Mariana Trench, Underwater asks us to contemplate what lurks in the unfathomed depths of the sea. By channeling HP Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos, it has the potential to turn us all into thalassaphobes.
Creep (2014)
Netflix
We may have instilled a fear of strangers from a young age, but it’s not something we regularly think about as adults. 2014 To crawl will probably change that for you. It chronicles the experiences of a videographer hired through Craigslist to document the life of an eccentric client who grows increasingly disturbed over time. There are lessons here: Don’t meet people through Craigslist and certainly don’t travel with them to a remote cabin in the woods. This may seem obvious, but it’s good to have a reminder every now and then.
The Descent (2005)
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The descent is a film that brings two phobias together in one sinister package: the fear of confined spaces and the fear of the dark. If you thought one was bad in itself, this one will leave you gasping. The film follows six women on a caving adventure in a cave in North Carolina, but their plans soon go awry. What should have been a fun outing turns into a life and death struggle against the pitch-dark cave and its unexpected inhabitants. By playing on two of humanity’s greatest fears, The descent becomes one of the most effective horror films of the 21st century.