History ParanoiaFuel / FIlm

* ''Film/MurderByNumbers'': Watching the victim-choosing scene was fodder for multiple unpleasant dreams. Never mind the fact that the death itself was high-grade {{narm}}. That scene on its own... (Hey. See those two nice young guys in that idling car over there-- couple or pair? They look like they're pretty into their conversation already-- and then hey, they're looking at you...)

* ''Film/Halloween|978'': Not only do you have no idea you are being watched from the shadows, stalked relentlessly, but that person is a psychopathic serial killer who has escaped from a psychiatric facility after 15 years since he killed his sister ''when he was a child'', and will do everything in his power to see you dead. Oh, and he's very tall, strong, practically faceless and wielding a kitchen knife. The safety of your neighbourhood is a lie. Dark secrets will escape from hiding. Nowhere is safe...

* ''Film/{{Gojira}}''. A nuclear bomb could awaken/mutate a monster bent on killing you and all of humanity. The only way to kill him is to use a weapon even '''worse''' than the nuclear bomb, and said weapon kills its victims via asphyxiation (You'll die a slow horrible death as oxygen molecules are ripped apart underwater and you're reduced to bone...and then ash.). Think you're safe now? [[spoiler:Nope. Turns out the one you just killed was the first one of its kind. Another one is going to ineviteablly show up.]]

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' [[spoiler: has its Erasure scene. Not everyone disappears in the same moment, so if you don't have Spider-sense or something warning you about impending doom, you can be next without knowing it. And if you're not an Avenger, you have no the faintest idea why is this happening (besides aliens attacking New York earlier), nor possessing the knowledge that everyone gets erased in tight window, so you may live the rest of your life in fear that you can anytime literally turn to dust. Also, since phone networks would be overloaded, you might, assuming you live, have fear about whether your closest ones are alive or no.]]

* ''Film/WagTheDog'': everything you may think you know about the rest of the world, about the news, about history, could have easily been made up.

* After you watch ''Film/FourteenOhEight'' you will ''never'' feel safe while being alone in a hotel room...''ever again''
--> [[EvilPhone "Five. This is five. Ignore the sirens. Even if you leave this room, you can NEVER leave this room. Eight. This is eight. We have killed your friends. Every friend is now dead. Six. This is six."]]

* The original ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' movie. Imagine a monster that looks like the very walls you are leaning on, something that could never be seen. It can climb walls, absolutely silent, and will take all of your friends, family, and the surrounding people. You'll suffer a slow and painful death, being dragged away while kicking and screaming. It will either kill you by putting a teeth filled inner mouth through your head, or will trap you in the walls of its hive, ready to impregnate you with more of its species.

* Film/ArlingtonRoad. [[spoiler:Your nice neighbours]] are terrorists. They've gotten away with it before and they'll get away with it again. If you try to stop them they'll get away with it anyways, and frame you. They've probably already done it to someone else like you.

* As ridiculous a movie as ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' is, you gotta wonder if it's such a good idea to [[Literature/EarthTheBook drunk-dial the Universe]], basically announcing to any potentially-hostile ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_cultural_impact_of_extraterrestrial_contact#Hostile_civilizations and there's a good chance they are]]) "Here we are! Come and take what you want!", considering we have no way to defend ourselves from any race that has the power to cross interstellar distances.
* ''Film/BlackChristmas1974'' (the original, that is). [[AxCrazy Billy]] was one crazy nut.
* ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' is excellent Paranoia Fuel for any trip into the deep woods, especially camping overnight.

* There is a French film called ''Caché'', (or ''Hidden'') which tells the story of a middle class family. So far, so cosy. Then, they start getting these creepy videos of their own house sent to their door, accompanied by some rather disturbing crayon drawings... The film's director is Creator/MichaelHaneke, the same guy who gave us ''Film/FunnyGames''

* This is one of the reasons why Chucky from the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' series was so terrifying (until it [[Film/SeedofChucky turned into self-parody]]).

%%* ''Film/{{Candyman}}''. Cand ... aw, hell naw!

* Creator/JimHenson's ''Film/TheCube''. Yes, ''that'' [[Series/TheMuppetShow Jim]] [[Series/SesameStreet Henson]]. ...You know what? Just watch it. Assume nothing, and enjoy the [[HappilyEverAfter happy ending]]. Oh, and have fun with the idea that reality as you experience it now may suddenly be revealed as an illusion before you go back to the debilitating chaos that is The Cube.
* ''Film/DarkCity''; everything you are ''was created a few seconds ago by aliens, and your town is a giant laboratory''.
* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'':

* The monsters from ''Film/TheDescent'' were cavemen who, rather than leaving the cave, had withdrawn further and further in, managed not to be wiped out by anything, and evolved into [[http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/6008/thedescent2512051tf8.jpg crawlers]]. The cave has gone undiscovered because the few people who have found it and gone down never made it out. The Paranoia Fuel comes because there's nothing to say this really couldn't have happened. They really could be down in a cave somewhere... And as soon as you set foot in that cave, you're a dead man.

* The otherwise forgettable Creator/SylvesterStallone film ''Film/DTox'' starts with his wife being murdered, more exactly ''shot in the head/eye while answering the door''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking With a silencer]]. In fact, most assassin/serial killer, or even home invasion works have this potential. Just imagine, you're sitting at home, every time you hear a knock, you nonchalantely go to answer a potential murdered/thief while thinking how boring your life is. And those may be your last thoughts on Earth.
* One of the main plot points of ''Film/EagleEye'' is that [[spoiler:the government is watching and hearing everything you do. They have security cameras installed in places you don't even want to think about. All communication devices monitor every conversation you have and send it back to them. Your cellphone acts as a microphone for them. ''Even when it's turned off, they hear everything you say.'' [[AIIsACrapshoot And all this is being run by a giant sentient computer with a secret plan to kill everyone on the presidential line of succession.]]]]

* The Austrian film and its American remake, ''Funny Games''. Watch it, and then walk home from the bus stop after dark. I dare you. You'll never lend anyone a couple of eggs or a cup of sugar again.

* Watching ''Film/{{Gattaca}}'' will make you start picking off strands of hair from inside your hat.

* The closing narration of ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''. If anything electrical or mechanical in your house breaks, "turn on all the lights, check the closets and cupboards and look under all the beds, because you never can tell. There just might be a gremlin in your house."
* ''Film/TheGrudge''. The creepy little Japanese boy and the woman could pop up anywhere!
* ''Film/{{Halloween|1978}}'': Not only do you have no idea you are being watched from the shadows, stalked relentlessly, but that person is a psychopathic serial killer who has escaped from a psychiatric facility after 15 years since he killed his sister ''when he was a child'', and will do everything in his power to see you dead. Oh, and he's very tall, strong, practically faceless and wielding a kitchen knife. The safety of your neighbourhood is a lie. Dark secrets will escape from hiding. Nowhere is safe...
* ''Film/TheHitcher'': like the trailer says, 'Once you've met The Hitcher, you'll ''never'' pick up another.'

* Universal's ''Film/TheInvisibleMan1933''. A crazed lunatic with the Joker's outlook and desire to cause widespread random destruction amongst innocent civilians -- only he's ''invisible''. Talk about an enemy impossible to escape from. The other Universal Monsters from that time may have been scary and more physically imposing, but at least you could ''see'' them. You at least had a ''chance'' of running away...
** Made worse in the fact that he could strike anywhere, at any time. Take this example: Thousands of police are swarming the country, and then the Invisible Man knocks out a train operator and ''proceeds to derail a train and kill over one hundred people, who probably weren't expecting it at all.'' A detective sets traps at a rich man's mansion. The Invisible Man ''goes into the house within 5 seconds.'' He's also AxCrazy. VERY AxCrazy.
* ''Film/ItsAlive'' - Stay away from the maternity ward.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. The beach was a very lonely place the summer after that movie was released.
* ''Film/{{Killers}}'' (the one with Creator/AshtonKutcher and Creator/KatherineHeigl) What if your neighboorhood friends that you've known for a long time were really secret agents watching your every move for the past 3 years? And then they get an order to kill you for money, and then suddenly almost the whole neighboorhood is trying to terminate your ass? That's a pretty unsettling thought.

* The film ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'' is about a realistic version of Ledger's Joker. Except he's not so much "spreading fear" as "killing everyone who let off the guy who killed and raped his wife and daughter". And he continues to do this ''even after they put him in jail''. [[spoiler:Luckily, "realism" includes a crippling vulnerability to [[SpannerInTheWorks spanners]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MonsterHouse''. You'll Never Feel Safe in Your Own House Again.
* Watching the victim-choosing scene from ''Film/MurderByNumbers'' was fodder for multiple unpleasant dreams. Never mind the fact that the death itself was high-grade {{narm}}. That scene on its own... (Hey. See those two nice young guys in that idling car over there-- couple or pair? They look like they're pretty into their conversation already-- and then hey, they're looking at you...)

* [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet "One, two Freddy's coming for you..."]] [[NeverSleepAgain It's even worse that he's in your dreams and most people think you're insane. You can't escape - he's virtually a literal god of the dreamscape. You either die from him or die of exhaustion. Once he's in your dreams, it is almost a certainty that you will end up dead.]] Even worse when you're remanded at a psychiatric facility and sedated, or in a coma...

* ''Film/{{Oldboy 2003}}''. [[spoiler: Have you ever made a careless remark? Congratulations, that careless remark may have ruined somebody's life, and now they're devoting the rest of it to pay you back tenfold.]]
* Think ''Film/OldYeller'' is just a classic, heartwarming TearJerker movie? Try being a kid who's never heard of rabies before. The idea of a disease that will turn a seemingly harmless animal (or kid, as far as you know) into a vicious, mindless beast that will attack anyone and everyone, even its beloved master is enough Paranoia Fuel for the rest of your life.
* The remake of ''Film/TheOmen2006'' has Damien's mother killed in mere seconds. [[spoiler:Damien's evil nanny comes to her hospital room at night and uses a syringe to inject an air bubble into her IV line]]. How easy would it be for ''anyone'' to do that to you, even during normal visiting hours?

* The twist of ''Film/ThePact'' basically turns an already fairly scary premise into paranoia fuel: You and your siblings return to the old family home after your mother's death, there's a threatening apparition haunting the house, and [[spoiler: it's caused your two sisters to mysteriously disappear]]... Except it turns out that [[spoiler: the ghost was trying to warn you of the real danger - your mother had been harboring her brother, a serial killer, in a hidden room in your house since you were a child... A room in the middle of the main floor, with hidden peepholes looking into every other room of the house. He's still in there, and your sisters' bodies have been hidden under the house this whole time]]
* ''Film/PansLabyrinth'':

* The 2007 film ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' certainly ranks very highly on the paranoia fuel list. Seriously, this film is VERY fond of preying on the complete helplessness of being asleep and all the sorts of unpleasantness that can happen without your knowledge.
* The short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjTb5A68VA Pencil Face]]''. How many wishes will ''you'' get right before you conjure something horrible?
* ''Film/{{Pontypool}}'': What ''Jaws'' did for swimming, this movie does for [[spoiler:''the entire English language'']].
* ''Film/ThePresidentsAnalyst'' - A psychiatrist's patient reveals he's really a CIA agent and has been screening him for the title position, then matter-of-factly points out the electronic bug he'd planted in his office who knows how long ago. The new job is a rush, if a bit hectic...then the FBI takes his girlfriend away for security reasons, telling him he talks in his sleep (now how did they know that?) With nobody to talk to he's getting more and more on edge...then he starts seeing guys in black suits and dark glasses watching him...oh, and it's a comedy.
* An in-universe example is Mr. White's "WeAreEverywhere" speech from ''Film/QuantumOfSolace.''

* ''Revenge Of Irys''. You know that cute little tentacle monster you just adopted? It feeds by draining the life-force out of things, including nearly '''everyone''' in the village you grew up in. Oh, and it wants to merge with you to become the ultimate killing machine.

* Try watching ''Film/SawI'' for the first time by yourself at night and just see if you don't race around the house, checking your closets with a blunt object in hand.

* ''Film/TheSixthSense'': "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do. I do."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Your mother is only pretending to love you. Oh, even better: she's not even really your mother. She's just some woman who kidnapped you as a baby for her own selfish gain. And if she has her way, you are ''never'' leaving home. ''Ever.'' And by "leaving home", we don't just mean moving out.. we mean leaving the house ''at all''.

* The defictionalization of ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' provides us a meta-example. [[SarcasmMode Thanks a bunch Britain.]] You just ''had'' to call your military communication satellites "Skynet", didn't you.

* John Carpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982''. [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm The Thing itself]] is practically the physical embodiment of Paranoia Fuel. It creates paranoia simply through its very nature alone.
* ''Film/TheThirteenthFloor'', in which [[spoiler: several levels of virtual reality exist, and it's not clear if any of them are actually real]].
* ''Film/{{Toys}}''. Deadly weapons in the form of creepy ... well ... toys.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''. Your toys, plushies/soft toys, and figurines ''are alive''. And they see ''everything'' you do. If you've ever vented your anger on them, or done cruel/weird things to them, ''you are a monster''. Some children, after seeing the film, became terrified by the thought that their toys were alive. The scene where Woody leads the toys to revolt against Sid probably didn't help. The fact that all of Sid's toys are ''cannibalized horrors that he's variously torn apart and rammed back together in numerous grotesque ways'' probably helps even less.
-->'''Woody:''' We toys ''(slow ExorcistHead)'' can see everything... so play nice!
* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''

* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'': ''You are being watched every second of your life. Your parents are only pretending to love you. Your friends are just actors -- you don't even know their real names. The girl you love is playing you for a sap, so the people watching you can laugh at your misfortune. Everybody you have ever met is lying to you. Your entire life is an elaborate charade staged for the amusement of the rest of the world. And you are the only one who doesn't know. That's why your mom always seems amused at something whenever you talk to her. She's laughing at you behind your back, just like everyone else...''
** Quite appropriately, the movie gave name to the very RealLife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show_delusion Truman Show Delusion]].
* Several things about John Candy in ''Film/UncleBuck''. "How would you like to spend the next several nights wondering if your crazy out-of-work bum uncle will ''shave your head'' while you sleep?"

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': A villain could infiltrate your world without anyone noticing, because he can rewrite your memories. He could take your place in your game, take away everything you have, make everyone in your game hate you, and render you an outcast.

* ''[[Film/HomeAlone Home Alone 2: Lost in New York]]'': As any native New Yorker can attest, New York City can be a dangerous place at nightfall. Harry and Marv foreshadow this after Kevin escapes from them in a late afternoon chase that ends in Central Park, the former remarking that grown men sometimes don't make it out of there alive. That evening, Kevin comes across a LaughingMad homeless man, two prostitutes who come onto him and a cab driver with a disfigured face. What sells it is the conversation Kevin has with the cab driver.

* ''Film/{{Contagion}}'': Touch anything, be near anyone, and you DIE.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''. Your toys, plushies/soft toys, and figurines ''are alive''. And they see ''everything'' you do. If you've ever vented your anger on them, or done cruel/weird things to them, ''you are a monster''. Some children, after seeing ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', became terrified by the thought that their toys were alive. The scene where Woody leads the toys to revolt against Sid probably didn't help. The fact that all of Sid's toys are ''cannibalized horrors that he's variously torn apart and rammed back together in numerous grotesque ways'' probably helps even less.

** If Frenzy is enough to put you on edge, then Laserbeak takes it UpToEleven. He can transform into ''anything'' he pleases. He could be ''anywhere'', plotting your demise as we speak.

* ''Film/{{Elephant}}''. A normal day at school could suddenly turn into a complete massacre. Anybody could get killed. People you've seen in the hallways once. Your friends. You. Enjoy your youth!

* ''Film/TheMatrix''. Your entire world is an illusion, your pets are holograms, and if you were to wake up from all this you would find yourself in a CrapsackWorld. And, just to throw in a guilt complex: if you find out all of this and ''still'' prefer the Matrix [[GildedCage (and really, who wouldn't?)]], you are [[CategoryTraitor a gutless sellout of your entire species]]. Many of the happenings in this movie involve common forms of paranoid / delusional mental illness actually coming true. Examples include the delusions that mysterious people are watching you without a plausible way of observing you, that mysterious government agents are out to get you, that somebody has implanted a chip or similar technological device under your skin to keep track of you, and on the positive side, delusions of having superpowers and turning out to be TheChosenOne because you recognize that your delusions are not delusions.

* ''Film/TheGame''. You don't know who else is playing. You have cameras in your home. People are watching you. And the object of the Game is to figure out the object of the game.

** ComicBook/TheJoker in is, with a shocking amount of realism, a guy that could kill ''anyone 'anywhere''', no matter how hard they try to hide, and who will kill you for absolutely no reason. [[ChaoticEvil He wants to bring your comfortable little world down around you in its entirety]] and [[ForTheEvulz won't even tell you precisely why.]] If he tells you anything, anything at all, he is lying. Or maybe he's not. Either way, your death, if you get in his way -- or even if you don't -- will likely be gruesome, [[MindRape or simply horrific psychological torment for the poor innocent souls enlisted to be in charge of whether you live or die for the day.]] It's all up to chance. ''Everyone'' is his enemy, except for those in his own employ -- and frequently, [[BadBoss them as well. If you side with him, he's just as likely to blow you up, kill you anyway, force you into the line of fire as a human shield, use you in one of his sick games, or turn you over to the cops.]] ''[[TheCorrupter And he wants to make you just like him.]]''

* ''Film/BattleRoyale''. Any one of your classmates could [[FaceHeelTurn turn on you]] and [[AxCrazy kill you in a heartbeat]] if they believed it was their only chance at surviving. * Shudder*

* The twist of ''The Pact'' basically turns an already fairly scary premise into paranoia fuel: You and your siblings return to the old family home after your mother's death, there's a threatening apparition haunting the house, and [[spoiler: it's caused your two sisters to mysteriously disappear]]... Except it turns out that [[spoiler: the ghost was trying to warn you of the real danger - your mother had been harboring her brother, a serial killer, in a hidden room in your house since you were a child... A room in the middle of the main floor, with hidden peepholes looking into every other room of the house. He's still in there, and your sisters' bodies have been hidden under the house this whole time]]

* Film/{{Contagion}}: Touch anything, be near anyone, and you DIE.

* ''Film/FightClub''. So there's this enormous anarchist group hiding right under your nose whose members like nothing more than [[spoiler: committing acts of violence and putting certain, er, bodily fluids in your food at restaurants.]]

* ''Film/TheMatrix''. Your entire world is an illusion, your pets are holograms, and if you were to wake up from all this you would find yourself in a CrapsackWorld. And, just to throw in a guilt complex: if you find out all of this and ''still'' prefer the Matrix [[GildedCage (and really, who wouldn't?)]], you are [[CategoryTraitor a gutless sellout of your entire species]]. Many of the happenings in this movie involve common forms of paranoid / delusional mental illness actually coming true. Examples include the delusions that mysterious people are watching you without a plausible way of observing you, that mysterious government agents are out to get you, that somebody has implanted a chip or similar technological device under your skin to keep track of you, and on the positive side, delusions of having superpowers.

* This is one of the reasons why Chucky from the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' series was so terrifying (until it turned into self-parody).

* ''Film/Batman1989'': Creator/JackNicholson's Joker, though played more for comedy, is also a rich well of ParanoiaFuel, thanks in part to Tim Burton's skillful, chilling direction of the 1989 film. Just imagine you were one of the innocent Gothamites in this movie. Could you ever again see [[EnemyMime a street mime]] or [[AFeteWorseThanDeath a parade balloon]] without having a panic attack? Would you ever again be willing to apply hairspray ''and'' deodorant in one grooming sitting? And Vicki Vale arguably had it the worst of all. The Joker was ''obsessed'' with her, and was [[StalkerWithACrush willing to track her]] just about anywhere. She wasn't safe from him in any setting, no matter how secure or comforting. ''Not even her own home.''

* ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' is excellent ParanoiaFuel for any trip into the deep woods, especially camping overnight.

* The monsters from ''Film/TheDescent'' were cavemen who, rather than leaving the cave, had withdrawn further and further in, managed not to be wiped out by anything, and evolved into [[http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/6008/thedescent2512051tf8.jpg crawlers]]. The cave has gone undiscovered because the few people who have found it and gone down never made it out. The ParanoiaFuel comes because there's nothing to say this really couldn't have happened. They really could be down in a cave somewhere... And as soon as you set foot in that cave, you're a dead man.

* Think ''Film/OldYeller'' is just a classic, heartwarming TearJerker movie? Try being a kid who's never heard of rabies before. The idea of a disease that will turn a seemingly harmless animal (or kid, as far as you know) into a vicious, mindless beast that will attack anyone and everyone, even its beloved master is enough ParanoiaFuel for the rest of your life.

* John Carpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982''. [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm The Thing itself]] is practically the physical embodiment of ParanoiaFuel. It creates paranoia simply through its very nature alone.

* ''Film/{{Oldboy 2003}}'' is absolutely steeped in this. [[spoiler: Have you ever made a careless remark? Congratulations, that careless remark may have ruined somebody's life, and now they're devoting the rest of it to pay you back tenfold.]]

* ''Film/WagTheDog'' is an example, not in the "I'm locking all my doors" sort of way, but in the sense that everything you may think you know about the rest of the world, about the news, about history, could have easily been made up.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': You could be dreaming now, and everyone else is poking around your brain trying to steal your secrets. And if you die, you either wake up, or get sent to Dream Hell (and you will not even be able to tell the difference). This film is probably even more effective than the Nightmare on Elm Street series at scaring people into trying not to fall asleep.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Your mother is only pretending to love you. Oh, even better: she's not even really your mother. She's just some woman who kidnapped you as a baby for her own selfish gain. And if she has her way, you are ''never'' leaving home. ''Ever.''

* Universal's ''Film/TheInvisibleMan'' (1933). A crazed lunatic with the Joker's outlook and desire to cause widespread random destruction amongst innocent civilians -- only he's ''invisible''. Talk about an enemy impossible to escape from. The other Universal Monsters from that time may have been scary and more physically imposing, but at least you could ''see'' them. You at least had a ''chance'' of running away...

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'': Your mother is only pretending to love you. Oh, even better: she's not even really your mother. She's just some woman who kidnapped you as a baby for her own selfish gain. And if she has her way, you are ''never'' leaving home. ''Ever.''