What is hemophobia?

Hemophobia is the fear of blood in general. It is one of the most common fears and is often caused by direct or vicarious trauma in childhood and adolescence. However, some have suggested that this phobia runs in families.

Blood phobia is often associated with trypanophobia (the fear of needles), as well as the fear of injuries (traumatophobia). Indeed, severe cases of these fears can result in fainting, which is uncommon in other phobias. For this reason, these phobia are categorised as "blood-injection-injury phobia" by the DSM-IV. 

General symptoms of hemophobia:

Most types of specific phobia cause the heart rate and blood pressure to rise. Hemophobia and other blood-injection-injury phobias frequently cause a drop in blood pressure and heart rate. The sudden drop can lead to fainting, a relatively common response to the sight of blood.

Anticipatory anxiety, in which you may experience a racing heart, shaking, and gastrointestinal distress, is common in the hours and days before an upcoming encounter with blood.

As for me, when I see blood, I suddenly become very anxious, my body starts shaking and I can't stand still. This reaction usually lasts about 10 minutes.

However, contrary to popular belief that blood phobia is usually associated with trypanophobia as well as traumatophobia, I am not scared of needles or any sharp objects but I do tend to be more careful when it comes to physical activities or any kinds of activities that might lead into injuries.
When I get nosebleeds, for some reason, I don't get panic attacks or feel uncomfortable. I personally reckon that because I know that my blood is 100% safe and that nosebleeds are generally not painful.
My fear could be explained by the constant association of blood with death and pain.


Blood in movies:

Splatter film (also called Gore film), is a subgenre of horror of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence.

Tokyo Gore Police is a great example to demonstrate how bodily mutilation is utilized in horror movies. Bodily mutilation in film describes the apparent mutilation for theatrical purposes of a character in a film. Bodily mutilation is most usually portrayed in the context of horror and is used primarily either to shock or fascinate the audience of a film, or to add a sense of realism to a film.

Tokyo Gore Police is a 2008 Japanese-American film gore-film directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura.
Because of the impressive special effects used notably with blood, the film garnered positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 90% "Fresh" rating and an average rating of 6.4 out of 10, based upon a sample of ten reviews. Brian Chen reviewed Police with a score of 3.5/5. He comments, "It's not a horrible film; it's not a great film; it's just everything it tries to be — perverse, grotesque, bizarre — and a little more."

V.A. Musetto of the New York Post gave the film three stars out of four calling the film "bloody good". Michael Esposito of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars noting the film as "sick, twisted and gory, but surprisingly funny in an adolescent boy fantasy way — Beavis and Butt-Head would love it."