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It's kind of a simple suggestion, but....breathe.
I do the same thing - get all tense and anxious, and the thing that works best is take a moment, close your eyes, and take two or three seriously deep breaths, from the diaphragm, exhaling all the way.
While you're at it, check in with your body and see what muscles are clenched and consciously relax them. Your brain and body feedback on each other in tense moments - your brain sends "fight or flight" signals to your body (which in real life scary situations are useful, but in scary movies and wax museums, not so much), which then responds like it's supposed to - tensing muscles, increased heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Anxiety-sensitive brains can then sometimes go overboard - your brain gets "we're ready to go!" messages from the body, and says "whoa, what's wrong! We must be in danger!" And sends back MORE fight-or-flight messages, which makes your body even more tense, etc. etc. (Follow this out to its logical conclusion and you get a panic attack.) So if you can short-circuit the feedback loop by relaxing your body, your brain stops sending the "get ready to run" signals and you can respond more appropriately to what is not, in fact, a life-threatening situation.
The other logical solution is to avoid situations where this happens. Or, if you can't or don't want to try the avoidance solution, while you're breathing, remind yourself of your immediate surroundings - YOU ARE SAFE. In a theater with lots of other people, in your living room, etc.
Good luck!
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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