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Description: When confronted with threatening stimuli, animals typically respond with freezing behavior characterized by reduced movement and heart rate deceleration. Various studies have also observed freezing-like behavior in humans and have pointed to a relationship between decreased body sway during threat anticipation and anxiety. It has recently been shown that postural freezing and fear bradycardia do not necessarily reflect helpless immobility but can also aid the preparation of a threat escape. To investigate whether a preparatory freezing mechanism can also be discerned in gaze behavior, we presented participants with electric shocks that could either be avoided or not while measuring eye movements, cardiovascular and electrodermal activity. In trials in which the threat could be escaped, participants displayed reduced heart rate, increased electrodermal activity and reduced visual exploration of the presented stimuli. These results suggest that the freezing of gaze serves a subsequent escape of an approaching threat.