History Main / PrimalFear

* In TheSilverChair, There is a part in the first chapter of the book where Jill has Eustace by the arms, trying to pull him up from a cliff's edge, and notices he looks white as a sheet. She looks down and sees why.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Äs Nödt has this as a power. Anyone hit by his arrows experiences this fear, and are incapable of fighting it. [[TheStoic Byakuya]] just barely resisted it, and even then only briefly.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The point of Äs Nödt's power isn't about fear you can rationalise. It's about fear that goes to the very core of what it means to be alive. It's the kind of fear that runs solely on instinct and, as a result, it cannot be rationalised and therefore cannot be fought. In short, he weaponises fear into an EmotionBomb that instantly "nukes" the victim. The form the fear takes can be absolutely anything - from what a person can expect to fear to what they never believed could ever bother them. There is no defence, even ''[[TheStoic Byakuya]]'' succumbed. [[spoiler: It manifested for Byakuya as an hallucination of Rukia's face rotting to pieces.]]

* NorseMythology: The giants of Norse mythology look like gigantic humans with strength to match. Then there are the giants of Muspel and Nifel who are elemental EldritchAbominations.

* [[NeonGenesisEvangelion]]: Giant insectoid space alien abominations come to Earth to merge with the mother of creation and turn everyone into Tang using the thing they love the most to get them to take down their AT field (which stands for ''absolute terror''), which is the only thing holding us together. The backstory is complete with the deaths of loved ones by various methods including suicide and a global catastrophe. There is also gore, ludicrous gibs, alien blood by the lake-full, mind rape, and the saviors of Earth are child soldiers undergoing existential crises who have no choice but to pilot giant humanoid cyborgs because the souls of their dead mothers reside in them. Yeah...

* ''{{Minecraft}}'' has darkness become extremely dangerous. Once the sun goes down, the light level is low enough for monsters to spawn in the field and attack you. Caves are worse, since you don't even have moonlight, so not only do you need to worry about monsters day and night, you may not be able to see clearly enough to run away in time. Torches provide some relief, but they'll only make it easier to see and harder for monsters to spawn, whereas sunlight actually harms the undead.

* ''VideoGame/Minecraft'' is loaded with this kind of fear. Climbing or building high will instantly make you paranoid of falling, especially if you are high level or have a lot of valuables in your inventory. Then there are ravines and the Nether, which have many vertical hazards. There is also the maxim to never dig down, because you just might mine into a wide open, dark cavern and fall to your death. Worse though is if you survive the fall, because then you have to face all the horrors of the dark.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The point of Äs Nödt's power isn't about fear you can rationalise. It's about fear that goes to the very core of what it means to be alive. It's the kind of fear that runs solely on instinct and, as a result, it cannot be rationalised and therefore cannot be fought. In short, he weaponises fear into an Emotion Bomb that instantly "nukes" the victim. The form the fear takes can be absolutely anything - from what a person can expect to fear to what they never believed could ever bother them. There is no defence, even ''[[TheStoic Byakuya]]'' succumbed.

* ''Manga/ShingekiNoKyojin'' takes place InAWorld where humanity is being hunted to near-extinction by a race of UncannyValley-esque people-eating giants (see Giants above). Since the manga focuses on the RedshirtArmy responsible for defending humanity, characters are ''constantly'' getting eaten by the Titans, and the series does not shy from showing us the [[{{Gorn}} gory details]].

* ''Manga/ShingekiNoKyojin'': The entire series just breathes this trope. The Titans are huge and powerful abominations that rip apart, stomp to death or eat alive any human they find, and the remnants of humanity must fight them if they are to have any hope of survival.

[[AC:{{Manga}}]]
* ''Manga/ShingekiNoKyojin'': The entire manga just breathes this trope.

* NorseMythology: The giants in the norse mythology look like gigantic humans with strength to match. Then there are the giants of muspel and nifel who are elemental EldritchAbominations.

* ''Manga/ShingekiNoKyojin'' takes place InAWorld where humanity is being hunted to near-extinction by a race of UncannyValley-esque people-eating giants. Since the manga focuses on the RedshirtArmy responsible for defending humanity, characters are ''constantly'' getting eaten by the Titans, and the series does not shy from showing us the [[{{Gorn}} gory details]].

[[AC:{{Music}}]]
* From ''TheBraveLittleToaster'', "Worthless" is a blues song about cars remembering their glory days just before their feeding to a trash compactor. The titular refrain implies that no matter what they did, they ultimately are, no matter who they were, "worthless". A good example about how a TearJerker moment can still be scary in a distant sense.

* ''Literature/TheStrain''' version of vampires. In their early stages, they act and look like simple and basic, if pale, zombies. In later development, they are completely devoid of hair, nails, ''genitals'', and lips. Their teeth are razor sharp, and their eyes black. They don't feed by biting: they shoot out a scorpion-like stinger as long as they are tall and pierce your blood vessels with surgical precision (deploying the stinger means stretching their mouth into a long, mirthless grin and dislocating their jaw like a snake). Their middle finger develops long and clawed. Their skin is pure white, and the worms that course through their body can be seen wiggling under their face. Mentally, the mature ones are at least as intelligent as humans, but the newly-turned ("Revenants") aren't lucky enough to get a HiveMind. They are bound, body and soul, to serve the will of the ancient they are descended from. Their instincts drive them to [[AdultFear find the ones they loved in life and turn them.]]

!!''For the film starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton, [[Film/PrimalFear click here]]. For the band "Primal Fear", [[Music/PrimalFear click here]].''

* The entire Eclipse from ''{{Berserk}}'', which also throws in Monsters and Evil Beings and Being Eaten Alive for added spice. The climax of the Eclipse in particular, where [[spoiler:Casca is raped by a demonic god who used to be her former commander Griffith, while Guts, the man who loves her, who has just chiseled off his own arm to try to save her, is held down by a mess of monsters and forced to watch it happen without being able to do a thing about it]], is Sadism and Squick at its nastiest in the saga so far.

* Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}: Living in a kingdom where you are told from birth you are an inferior race? Having [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocrats]] being able to do anything they want(including rape you or your loved ones) and being told it is "disrespectful" if you object. And after all this, having this supported by a CorruptChurch which tells you that it is sinful not to have HappinessInSlavery ? Those that say Ivanhoe romanticised the Middle Ages haven't read it right.

* Really now: ''{{Berserk}}'' '''is''' fear in itself, not just in the Sadism and Squick department.

Some fears are universal. [[DarknessEqualsDeath The dark]], heights, [[AfraidOfBlood blood]], enclosed spaces, [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes]], [[SpidersAreScary spiders]], [[TheSociopath psychopaths]], pain, death, monsters, humiliation, loneliness; these fears have always been with us. They are the dangers our early ancestors faced, and their shadows still haunt our nightmares. Most people are a little nervous about such things - not many people could walk on a glass bridge over the Grand Canyon without any railings, and not feel a little anxious - and full-blown phobias are easily enough induced.

** In the final level, there is an optional chase where a large spiked indestructible enemy is chasing Yoshi across a rocky, lava filled area, as the screen ever so slowly moves to allow him more more area to move. It doesn't help that before entering this chase, if the player wants to receive helpful information, all they get is [[SuddenlyShouting RUN AWAY! HURRY!! in dramatically huge font.]]

** In the final level, there is an optional chase where a large spiked indestructible enemy is chasing Yoshi across a rocky, lava filled area, as the screen ever so slowly moves to allow him more more area to move. It doesn't help that before entering this chase, if the player wants to receive helpful information, all they get is [[NoIndoorVoice RUN AWAY! HURRY!! in dramatically huge font.]]

* ''Yoshi's Island'': The threat of being eaten occurs quite a bit. Not only is there a boss battle that occurs in a Frog's throat, but there are a few chase scenes in which a huge, round creature with pointed teeth is out to eat Yoshi.
** In the final level, there is an optional chase where a large spiked undefeatable enemy is chasing Yoshi across a rocky, lava filled area, as the screen ever so slowly moves to allow him more more area to move. It doesn't help that before entering this chase, if the player wants to receive helpful information, all they get is RUN AWAY!!! in dramatically huge font.

* The scene in ''WinnieThePooh and the Honey Tree'' where Pooh gets stuck in the hole has probably inspired more than a bit of claustrophobia in young kids. He was later stuck inside a [[NightmareFuel beehive]].

** Um...Your Millage May Vary on that, that scene in particular came off as {{Fetish Fuel}} for me, simply the idea of someone's rear end sticking out of a hole and all sorts of naughty things you can do...Yes I'm ashamed I got {{Fetish Fuel}} from {{Winnie the Pooh}}.

** Um...[[YMMV Your Millage May Vary on that,]] that scene in particular came off as {{Fetish Fuel}} for me, simply the idea of someone's rear end sticking out of a hole and all sorts of naughty things you can do...Yes I'm ashamed I got {{Fetish Fuel}} from {{Winnie the Pooh}}.

** Um...{{Your Millage May Vary}} on that, that scene in particular came off as {{Fetish Fuel}} for me, simply the idea of someone's rear end sticking out of a hole and all sorts of naughty things you can do...Yes I'm ashamed I got {{Fetish Fuel}} from {{Winnie the Pooh}}.

''For the movie starring Richard Gere and EdwardNorton, [[Film/PrimalFear click here.]] For the band "Primal Fear", [[Music/PrimalFear click here.]]''

* At one point in ''FourteenOhEight'', in order to escape the titular room, John Enslin attempts to climb out a window 13 stories up, stand on a ledge maybe six inches wide, and shimmy twenty feet across to the next room, with plenty of camera angles to show just how high. Twenty-five feet later, he realizes the room is still tormenting him when doesn't encounter a window. The camera zooms out reveal a massive wall ''completely devoid of anything but the ledge and 1408's windows''. While going back, a ghost jumping out the window shocks him, and he only manages to avoid falling to his death by clinging tightly to the ledge. He barely manages to get back in before the window shuts on him.