ONE company has used science to determine the scariest films of all time.
Conducted by MoneySuperMarket broadband, the experiment is known as the Science of Scare Project.
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The aim of the project is to “categorically find the scariest movies in existence.”
HOW DOES THE EXPERIMENT WORK?
Each year since 2020, the Science of Scare Project generates a list of the most terrifying English language films based on critic scores and reviews.
It then shows these movies to a panel of 250 participants who are fitted with heart rate monitors.
The screenings take place over several weeks throughout the year to prevent “audience fatigue.”
Researchers assess the participants’ heart rate (measured in beats per minute BPM), and heart rate variance (measured in milliseconds, or m/s) while watching the films.
“With heart rate (BPM), the higher the number, the faster the movie got our audiences’ blood pumping, an indicator of excitement and fear as part of your fight or flight instinct,” the team explained.
“On the other hand, heart rate variance (HRV), measures the time in between each beat of your heart. The lower the heart rate variance the more stressed our audience members became, a good indicator of slow-burn fear and dread.”
After gathering the average heart rate increase and HRV decrease, they combined both scores to get a Science of Scare score out of 100.
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THE RESULTS
This year, the top 10 scary movies were:
- Sinister
- Host
- Skinamarink
- Insidious
- The Conjuring
- Hereditary
- Smile
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose
- Hell House
- Talk To Me
If you’re a horror movie fanatic, it shouldn’t surprise you that Sinister (2012) is number one on the list.
Often hailed as one of the scariest movies ever, the experiment showed that the film caused its audience to experience a 34% uplift in heart rate.
Meanwhile, HRV dropped by 21% among viewers, the second lowest of any film on the list, the team noted.
The study listed a total of 50 movies, with popular films like The Descent and The Ring placing at numbers 11 and 20, respectively.
The list was recently made viral in a new TikTok video by creator @Cinema.joe.
“Sinister is 100% correct. That movie has me on edge the entire time,” one user stated below the post.
“The sound design in Sinister is designed to mess with you. I wrote a paper on it,” a second person noted.
