The internet is full of personality type systems. Everyone loves to know which Disney princess, Marvel hero, or other fictional characters are based on their Meyers-Briggs type, D&D alignment, zodiac sign, blood type, or more. Horror movie villains have certainly been ranked in all of these areas, and readers can easily take a quiz to find out which one they’re in line for Halloween. But what about the Enneagram system? Since this personality typology is based on their worst fears, the horror movies that scare each type the most are actually pretty relevant – whether viewers want to be associated with their favorite scary movie or just want to know which horror to avoid. based on their worst feara small guideline would be very useful in this month of October.
The Enneagram is a personality type system developed in the 1950s by various theorists around the world. It classifies personality types into nine different categories, each named after a number. Each number represents an underlying fear that serves as the motivation behind the person’s behavior. Anxiety about something in particular fear dominates the personality explains many actions of the individual. Naturally, for each type there will be a specific horror movie that embodies their worst nightmare. The definitions here come from the Enneagram Institute website – a great resource to learn more.
Type One’s underlying fear is “of being corrupt/evil, defective”. For Type Ones, the scariest monster is therefore the one in the mirror. jekyll and hydestyle villains, concepts like Wolf Man, and any villain that is a secret dark side of the protagonist would be a Type One’s worst nightmare. For Type 2, who fears “being unwanted, unlovable” the most, the greatest fear would be a horror story of rejection, like Carrie or even Frankensteinit’s the monster. For Type Three, who most fear “being worthless” and unrecognized, the greatest fear would be to become invisible, to become a non-person; So, The invisible Man would scare them the most.
Type four is most afraid “that he has no personal identity or meaning”. For Type Four, the most terrifying horror films would be those like The Women of Stepford Where Invasion of the Body Thieves: stories about having your individual identity taken away and replaced with a seamless drone. For Type Five, whose worst fear is “being useless, helpless, or incapable” and facing the unknown, the the scariest villain would be someone like Halloween‘s Michael Myers – a monster for which there is no explanation and no stopping (in the first movie, anyway). For Type Six, the scariest experience would be “being unsupported and unguided”, in other words, the climax for the last girl in most slasher movies, but mostly something like Friday 13 (trapped alone in summer camp) would capture their worst fear.
Type Seven’s worst fear is “to be deprived and to suffer”. Vampire and Zombie Archetypes probably best embody this fear; not only do they cause pain, but they leave anyone who becomes so hungry and never satisfied. Type Eights fear “being hurt or controlled by others” the most. For an eight, freddie would be the worst possible nightmare – to be trapped and controlled by an unstoppable dream demon and forced completely out of control. Type Nine’s greatest fear is “Of loss and separation”. For this guy, any classic ghost story would be the worst terror, because it’s Type Nine’s greatest fear that has manifested itself: a haunting creature from beyond the grave.
All nine types have more than basic fear, of course. There are personality traits, motivations and deeper complications. But given their roots in basic fears, how those fears play out on the big screen matters. Whether audiences are just hoping to confront and overcome their worst nightmare or they want to know why a particular horror movie bothers them more than any other, having this showdown between horror staples and Enneatypes should be very helpful in october.
