- The Control Voice: Experience teaches that of all the emotions, fear stands alone in its power to move us or to capture us in its grip... forever.
A man haunted by the memories of a fire that killed his sister is given a treatment to alleviate his fears, but finds he can pass his fears to others.
- The Control Voice: In a world of terrors there is nothing more fearsome than the unknown. Especially when what is unknown... is ourselves.
Trope Itself:
- Accidental Child-Killer Backstory: Subverted. Bernard is initially a very troubled man who accidentally killed his little sister in a fire by playing with matches while she was sleeping, thus starting his crippling anxiety. In the last scene, he discovers that it was actually Father Claridge, who gaslit him and blamed the young boy for his crime.
- And I Must Scream: Happens with the murderous priest, driven mad in the end and permanently experiencing being burned alive, a throwback to the punishment given to the SS commander in The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "Death's Head Revisited" by the ghosts of his victims. Laser-Guided Karma, anyone?
- Imaginary Enemy: The dark figure who haunts Bernard every day to torment him ceaselessly is just a figment of his imagination, but turns out to be based on the real person who caused Bernard's crippling anxiety.
- Flashback Nightmare: Bernard Selden is plagued by horrific nightmares about the fire in which his younger sister Mimi died.
- Pedophile Priest: Implied with Father Claridge, who murdered Mimi because she "wouldn't stop screaming". When Bernard meets him again, he's seen with another group of children...
- Sibling Murder: Bernard is haunted by the accidental murder of his little sister. In fact, she was molested, murdered, and set on fire by a Pedophile Priest who subsequently drove him into a lifelong nervous wreck by gaslighting the young boy to believe he started the fire.
- Sinister Minister: Father Claridge murdered a little girl and burned her corpse before blaming her brother, turning the boy into a traumatized wreck for most of his life and haunted by the experience. He ends up driven to madness by the brother's psychic powers, imagining himself burning alive.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: Bernard Selden who suffers from crippling panic attacks and hallucinations receives a special treatment for his issues. It works, and he gains the power to pass these terrors to other people.
