What scares you the most?

Not in real life, I can imagine that, as no matter where or how we live, we share many fundamental and quite basic fears.
What I’d like to know is what scares you in movies or books? What makes you gasp, what shocks you, what makes you jump out of your seat?

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I’m asking that because I would gladly watch a horror movie, as projected fear is supposed to be good for you, relieving tensions and ridding you of negative feelings.
The problem is there are so very few decent horror movies out there. I don’t care about monsters of any kind, ghosts are boring and I don’t trust any sort of evil spirits suddenly springing back to life…
I’m a big Stephen King fan, but I remember I positively hated one of his novels, ‘Desperation’ as it turned out all the bad shit the main character did was caused by some old spirit… come on, give me a break man!
I would’ve been OK with the character being simply a sadistic fuck… something that makes way more sense and quite believable… the world is full of that sort of people.
Hell is other people, right?
Going back to Stephen King, one of the books I loved was ‘Under the Dome’ - not the TV series I found unwatchable. The book has that big-shot city leader character who is so profoundly evil I remember I couldn’t put down the book when I read it years ago as I was desperate to see what happens. (And I do mean I couldn’t put down the book, which is quite rare…)
However, one of the things that really truly scared me in recent years was the second season of American Horror Story - Asylum. I didn’t even watch the whole series as it became boring, but Asylum I found quite horror. Probably because it’s based on the evil humans are capable of. The crazy doctor cutting a patient’s legs is the kind of scene I won’t ever forget.

One of the reasons I liked it so much is that it reminds me of a story by Garcia Marquez, the one with the woman who is locked in a mental institution by mistake and no one believes she is not a patient.
Then there’s of course a scene from (again) Stephen King’s ‘Misery’, the movie this time. I must have watched that some 30 years ago, but I remember exactly where and who I was with that night as well as my shocked reaction when the crazy woman (played by Kathy Bates) breaks the legs of her favorite writer,as the poor guy kept trying to escape from the house where she kept him as prisoner.

I don’t know why is it that many of the things I find scary have to do with legs and the loss of them, I can only assume it’s some memory of a past life. Not that I actually believe in that sort of thing, but there must be some explanation.
Apart from crippling infirmity, I guess the one thing that scares me most is madness. Evil, too, but that’s easy, who isn’t afraid of evil people?
Why madness? Probably as it involves loss of control. Once you lose your minds, you lose control over your life. Just as dealing with crazy people tends to end up with you losing control! Possibly your life, too.
It’s way past midnight here so I guess it’s a good moment to ask what are the things that scare you most and what is your favorite horror movie?

Thanks for reading