If you aren’t a fan of deep-sea diving or even the ocean as a whole, you may want to look away. Or, maybe you won’t, as the trailer for the newest killer whale movie, Whalefall, might be enough to make you point and say, “See!” The movie trailer, which features Josh Brolin and Austin Abrams, has drawn such intense reviews that viewers are openly admitting that it’s unlocked new fears, left them sweating and calling it a “panic attack trailer.”
The movie follows a scuba diver who is swallowed alive by a sperm whale. It’s based on a novel of the same name written by Daniel Kraus. Along with director Brian Duffield, Kraus co-wrote the script, which all but ensures that every terrifying aspect of the book was likely highlighted perfectly in the movie.
If you like movies that can potentially take fear to the next level, enjoy the Whalefall trailer:
While Abrams’ character is seen having a few close calls with whales in the preview, it’s how he gets swallowed that arguably makes this even more terrifying.
‘Whalefall’s’ twist on getting swallowed by a whale
As if the idea of being swallowed alive by a whale isn’t quite enough to leave audiences on the edge of their seat, the trailer shows that there’s a whole lot more to the story. The whale wasn’t even trying to swallow Abrams’ character; it was eating a giant squid. The diver is grabbed by one of the squid’s tentacles and is unable to get free.
From there, well, you saw the trailer above, and considering it ends as Abrams’ character is both fighting off a squid and being swallowed by a whale, this is pretty much the perfect “what happens next” teaser for a movie.
Reactions to ‘Whalefall’ included a whole lot of brutal honesty
Not surprisingly, reactions to Whalefall, which hits theaters on October 16, included a wide range of viewers who admitted it unlocked a “new fear” of Thalassophobia, the intense fear of deep or vast bodies of water.
The trailer was so intense that even a person who admitted to being a certified scuba diver said it had unlocked a new fear. Another viewer commented and listed off a list of different fears that this single situation alone could touch on:
Cetaphobia (fear of whales)
Thalassophobia (fear of the ocean)
Aquaphobia (fear of water)
Vorarephobia (fear of being eaten)
Claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces)
That’s quite the list, and yes, somehow in just a single trailer for Whalefall, the creators managed to cover all of the above.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: ‘Viscerally horrific’: New killer whale movie trailer unlocks next-level fears for viewers