From Snakes And Spiders To Sharks And Clowns, In This Article, We Introduce 10 Movies That Have Spiced Up Our Real Fears Over The Years.

Millions of people live in fear and phobias daily and suffer from one or more phobias. While some are rare, such as arachnidbutyrophobia, the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth and choking, others are more common and prevent people from doing simple things like sticking their toes in open ocean water.

For decades, the horror genre has sidelined and exploited our real fears for financial gain while scaring audiences to death.

However, despite these phobias, this has not stopped us from going to the cinema, or to overcome them, or being afraid of what we see on the screen.

From classic hits to recent blockbusters, let’s look at ten movies that have used our fears to their advantage and created truly terrifying cinematic experiences.

Cujo

No one knows how to handle our everyday fears better than Stephen King. He is a master of taking something unassuming and turning it into our worst nightmare. Cujo is a terrifying scenario brought to life thanks to Lewis Teague’s 1983 adaptation of King’s novel for people with a canine phobia, or cynophobia, which is the fear of dogs.

Starring Dee Wallace, the film follows the simple premise of a woman and her child trapped in a wrecked car, with a rabid St. Bernard following their every move. The tension increases as the midday sun rises, adding to the already heated situation. With no food, no water, and no one around to help them, it’s up to Wallace to find a way out and save his son before he succumbs to dehydration. It may seem like an easy solution to escape, but when a rabid dog is trying to tear you apart, everything is black and white.

The Ruins

Although harmless to some, the fear of plants is genuine for those with plant phobias. That’s why the idea of ​​being trapped on top of a Mayan temple with a flesh-eating vine makes Carter Smith’s 2008 film The Ruins terrifying.

Based on the 2006 novel of the same name, the film follows four American tourists who travel where they shouldn’t, landing them in an impossible situation as they all try to escape their bloodlust. Do not be consumed by the vine. Throw in some angry Mayans who shoot first, and ask questions later, and The Ruins captures our fear of plants in a masterful horror adaptation that will make you think twice before watering the ferns.

Snakes on a Plane

While they may make good pets for some people, those with ophidiophobia want nothing to do with snakes, and I thank them very much. They certainly don’t want to think about venomous reptiles while flying 30,000 feet, which makes the cult film Snakes on a Plane so terrifying.

Featuring pythons, rattlesnakes, mangrove snakes, and just about any other snake you can think of, Snakes on a Plane will completely overwhelm unsuspecting flight passengers. Samuel L. Jackson also appeared in this flight of Pain, creating a comedy horror film that will terrify even the most die-hard snake lover. For those with aerophobia, which is the fear of flying, snakes on airplanes are a double fear that knows no bounds. With the recent news of a cobra breaking into a pilot’s cockpit, we will put our feet on the ground for a while.

The Descent

Those with a strong fear of the dark, or agoraphobia, will find The Descent disturbing enough, but when coupled with claustrophobia, it becomes an even more terrifying film that also plays on our fear of tight spaces.

Following six women on an enchanting adventure into the Appalachian Mountains, The Descent taps into our worst fears. Not only are the characters trapped in an unknown cave system, but the women are also haunted by human beings. They are terrified. Directed by Neil Marshall, The Descent is an excellent British horror film with plenty of tension, a nail-biting experience for those who often wonder what happens in the dark of night.

M3GAN

Artificial intelligence is scary, but seeing it in a doll is even more disturbing for people with technophobia. But why? Because according to this movie, conscious dolls can easily attack our children. A recent breakthrough, M3GAN, addresses these fears well and exploits the dangers of artificial intelligence to the extent that it challenges life outside the Internet.

While movies like The Terminator and I Robot have terrified the technophobic for years, M3GAN brings that fear into the house. When a grieving child receives a prototype artificial intelligence doll from her aunt, a strange game begins between the beauty and the family. Those who fear dolls will find M3GAN just as disturbing, making us rethink all the talking dolls we give our kids.

Cabin fever

Directed by horror expert Eli Roth in his directorial debut, Fever Shack does its best to scare people with mysophobia as much as possible. Enacting an intense germ-fear game, the film follows a group of college graduates who fall victim to a flesh-eating virus in a remote cabin in the woods.

Although it doesn’t represent what a disease would be like globally, cabin fever limits its virus epidemic and presents brutal scenes not for the faint of heart. A thorough examination of paranoia and isolation will make you want to take a Lysol bath after it’s over. While it did get an unnecessary remake in 2016, nothing will match what the original did to terrify audiences upon release.

Arachnophobia

Starring John Goodman, Jeff Daniels, and the late Julian Sands, the title says it all. By exploiting the fear of spiders, the production team shows arachnophobia just how dangerous spiders can be after they invade a town in California, infesting its inhabitants.

In a throwback to the creature features of the past, the film is more about atmospheric scares than direct scares. The filmmakers show uncomfortable scenes punctuated by Goodman’s comedic attempts to ease the tension. Those who fear spiders will find it deeply disturbing, as the film’s finale and climax include enough close-ups of the creatures to make your skin crawl with fear as if hundreds of eight-legged beasts are dancing all over you.

It

The Stephen King story was remade by director Andy Muschitti in 2017. Still, the original 1990 TV miniseries terrified a generation of colorophobics, thanks to Tim Curry’s portrayal of the legendary clown Pennywise. To this day, viewers still remember that bright red nose and those razor-sharp teeth that seemed to jump out of the TV and bite your arm.

This adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, which is still a fascinating classic, suffered greatly from the TV adaptation. Still, Corey made the most of his time as the evil clown who terrorized the Losers in the miniseries’ first half. Did the creature’s wisecracking throughout the show, which made him all the more terrifying, his facial expressions, combined with special makeup and prosthetics, were perfectly made for truly terrifying television. It’s one of his most memorable roles, and although Bill Skarsgård was a worthy replacement, nothing can forget Tim Corrie’s startling performance that still sends shivers down our spines.

The Birds

This Alfred Hitchcock classic stars Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor in a film based on a short story by English author Daphne de Maurier. Although it may seem like a tame film by today’s standards, The Birds is one of those films that stands the test of time and will make bird phobics watch through their fingers in horror.

You might not think a single bird could do you much harm, and you might be right, but when they’re in a flock or flock together, those warm-blooded vertebrates can take a pretty good bite out of your eyeballs. Destroy Inspired not only by Du Maurier’s story but by a real-life bird strike in Capitola, California, in 1961, The Birds proves that those who fear winged animals have good reason to do so. With bird attacks on the rise, it’s best to keep a close eye on the sky when you’re out and about around their nests, lest you see the moment a few sparrows attack you.

Jaws

What is scary about the shark is its back’s sharpness and lifeless, black eyes like a doll’s. These were the words of Robert Shaw, who played Quint alongside Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss in the 1975 hit Jaws. This film, directed by Steven Spielberg, is one of those rare films that has resonated with audiences today. For those who feared sharks, Quint’s famous speech on the USS Indianapolis sent shivers down the audience’s spine, but as if the threat of a great white shark wasn’t enough.

For those with thalassophobia, which is the fear of the ocean, Jaws is an even scarier work than usual, even if the shark barely appears in the film, making it so terrifying. But the fear of what you can’t see is sometimes greater than the presentation of the monster itself. While the odds of a shark attack are about 1 in 3.5 million, those numbers offer little comfort to those with a genuine phobia of fish swimming in deep waters for the past 450 million years.