The 10 most common phobias and the movies to scare you silly – summary.org

For a movie to be really scary, it has to play on your fears. And to appeal to a wide audience, it has to play on the fears that we share. Thats why there are so may movies about not being able to distinguish between reality and fantasy, and about people who cant be reasoned with. That and possessed dolls.

But while these are things that we are afraid of, they arent things that we go about worrying about every day. They arent things that sit in the back of our mind ready to be triggered at the slightest provocation. This goes beyond fears there are our phobias. So, movies with seemingly less scary concepts, but which play on these phobias, can be much scarier that Stephen King movies features clowns though I do still have nightmares after watching the original IT movie as a child.

So here we have compiled a list of the 10 most common phobias, and 10 movies which are sure to be petrifyingly triggering for anyone who shares these intense fears.

Honourable mention. although it is not currently documented as one of the most common phobias, I feel that Nomophobia, fear of not having mobile phone access, is already pretty widespread and will be making its way up the list over the next few years. There are probably already movies out there with this concept at its heart.

OK, lets get started.

Fear of spiders and other arachnids (like tarantulas). This is a completely common and legitimate fear what do they need so many legs for anyway? While only around a dozen of the over 35,000 different types of arachnids on the planet pose a real threat to humans (and most of those live in the Amazon or Australia), it is speculated that the fear dates back to when inferior medical knowledge meant that they were more dangerous. Though I think it is less that they can bite you, and more that they can crawl on your skin while you are sleeping!

This is an easy one. The 1990 film Arachnophobia starring John Goodman shows you what happens when you mix a tiny poisonous spider that cant bite through your skin, with a massive but not poisonous spider that can jump at your face. The idea of them hiding under the toilet seat is truly terrifying.

Fear of snakes why dont they have any legs! We can see deep seated fear of snakes in many cultural references why was it a serpent that tempted Adam and Eve (and how did they not know it was a trap, had they never seen a childrens cartoon?). The same theory applies here, that they used to be a significant threat to our survival, so it is an old evolutionary fear. I think it is legitimate suspicion of animals that can move around without legs and shed their entire skin every so often.

While there are a lot of scary movies out there about snakes, and this one straddles humour and fear, Ive chosen Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, as it combines an awful lot of snakes with being stuck in a place of no escape.

Fear of heights, which affects more than 6 percent of people, and can still leave those without a full-blown phobia feeling a little queasy. People who panic about being high up really have to plan their lives, avoiding situations where they need to enter tall buildings or cross open bridges.

While this Sylvester Stallone film is more of an action classic than a horror, for anyone with a fear of heights, the gravity defying activities of the concept climber that gets involved in a heist will be truly terrifying.

Apparently fear of flying affects between 10 and 40 percent of Americans, despite the fact that plane accidents are very uncommon, and you are at greater risk crossing the street. Though recent, highly publicised accidents are probably not doing anything to help this epidemic.

Again, this is a fear for which there may just be too many movie options, but Flight 7500 involved not only a very precarious plane ride, but a supernatural force which seems to put the idea of being saved beyond human control.

Fear of dogs, which can be quite complex. You have people who are scared of any dog, who are only scared of big dogs, and have a fear of dogs but are still dog owners. This usually stems from a traumatic incident, often in childhood when the animal itself seems much more threatening.

Both terrifying and heart breaking, Cujo sees the familys St Bernard struck down by rabies, and then terrorizing the family, all that during a heart wave.

Fear of thunder and lightning, which seems to be pretty common among kids, but they do grow out of it. When this fear carries on into adulthood it can manifest in an excessive preoccupation with the weather. This makes me suspect that all English people are astraphobes, considering just how much they talk about the weather.

A lot of disaster movies focus on the idea of the end of the world being caused by very strong storms, and these are sure to be triggering for astraphobia. Twister, however, remains a classic because it is more realistic. This is not the world being destroyed by unlikely storms, but people finding themselves in the middle of the kinds of real storms that threaten us every day.

Fear of injections, which means more than just crying and looking away when you are forced to get your regular shot. Some people avoid doctors and medical treatment in general in order to avoid the prospect of a needle, which can have serious health consequences.

While this law drama might not immediately seem scary, for those with a fear of needles, the role of syringes in this film is sure to cause fear. Chris Evans plays a drug-addicted lawyer who takes on the health supply corporations.

Why has no one come up with a proper Greek term for this phobia? Perhaps this phobia is linked to nomophobia and the anility to be able to look buy playing with your phone in order to be able to avoid engaging with other people. The fear is being watched or humiliated in front of other people, even when doing the most ordinary, everyday tasks. The phobia usually sets on during puberty and can last a lifetime if not treated.

Some people may raise their eyebrows at my choice for this particular film, but the constant embarrassment that our protagonist is painful to watch, and the stuff of nightmares for anyone who constantly fears finding themselves in these types of situations.

Not as simple as a fear of open spaces, it is a fear of being alone in a situation or place from which escape might be difficult. This often manifests as fear of unfamiliar places, or crowds as these too are full of unfamiliar threats. When people really suffer from tis phobia, they may avoid leaving their homes as this is one of the few safe places.

Terrified subway passengers find themselves stranded in the LA subway after a terrorist bombe derails their train. Not only must they escape this very scary place, but this perpetrator is someone among them.

Fear of excessive germs and dirt, it can lead people to engage in excessive cleaning (an excellent quality in a spouse or flatmate) and things like compulsive hand washing and a refusal to shake the hands of other people.

This ensemble film looks at the world dealing with a new contagion which is transmitted by fomites, which are inanimate objects that become contagious when exposed to the germs. We watch as our characters battle to contain the disease and stop a pandemic.

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The 10 most common phobias and the movies to scare you silly - summary.org