‘Sinister’ Is the Scariest Movie Ever, According to Science
What's the scariest horror movie of all time? Everyone will have their own answer, because horror is subjective. What's scary to one person might be child's play to another. But it seems that science can now tell us which horror movies are technically the scariest, based on an increase in heart rate among viewers.
BroadbandChoices’ “Science of Scare” study tracked the heart rates of 50 people during 100 hours of horror films. The researchers were then able to identify the top 35 scariest movies from the results. Surprisingly, the movie in the number one slot is 2012’s Sinister. Starring Ethan Hawke, Sinister follows a true-crime writer who comes across a series of murders on found footage. There was a 32 percent uplift in heart rates – from 65 beats per minute (bpm) to 86 bpm — among audience members.
Coming in right behind Sinister is Insidious, followed by The Conjuring, Hereditary, and Paranormal Activity. The list only features four films that came out more than 20 years ago: The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's hard to deny the experiment's accuracy — these movies are all quite frightening.
Study creator Daniel Clifford hoped to make the horror movie selection process easier this Halloween season. “With more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder,” said Clifford.
Now that you know the scientifically scariest movies of all time, are you brave enough to dive into a horror movie marathon? Or will you stick with Hubie Halloween? The choice is yours, and yours alone.
Gallery — The Best Horror Films of the 2010s: