131 beats per minute: This is the scariest horror movie according to science

Watching a horror movie can make your heart beat faster, cause tremors, or cause anxious breathing. Men’s Journal (via ComingSoon ) has shared a report from its fourth annual Broadbandchoices Science of Scare project, which reveals the 50 scariest movies of all time — just in time for Halloween!

Researchers fitted 250 participants with heart monitors that recorded their reactions while watching hundreds of horror movies. These scores were based on a person’s heart rate and the variance of that rate, and were assigned a “fear score” out of 100.

And this year, the scariest movie of all time is… Sinister with 96 points. Scott Derrickson’s horror film starring Ethan Hawke reached the top spot in this survey for the first time in 2020. After being “lost” for the last two years, it’s surprising that this feature film – one of the highest-rated films of 2012 – will return in 2023. In a press release, the researchers revealed more information about the public’s response.

Our audience experienced a 34% increase in heart rate while watching, from 64 bpm to 86 bpm throughout the film, with the film’s scariest moment sending their heart rate up 131 bpm.

In pitiful (2012), Ethan Hawke Plays an author of detective novels inspired by true events who discovers family murder films in his new home. When ancient images suggest that a supernatural force is at work, he and his family find themselves in danger.

The survey found the film to be “a perfect balance of awesome moments and slow-burn scares.”

Other movies in the rating

For two years in a row, from 2021 to 2022, the independent horror film hosted the top spot in the survey. However, this year host fell to second place. The study also found that low-budget live-streaming projects are more intimidating to audiences than traditional, high-profile projects.

The House (2023) is in the third position, followed by Insidious (2010). For the latter, viewers experienced a higher peak beats per minute than any other Top 50 film, reaching 133 at a resting heart rate of 64. This means thatinsidious Showed the scariest scene among all the films in the rating.

With a peak of 132 BPM, Conjuring: The Warren Files (2013) climbed to number five, followed by Hereditary (2018), Smile (2022), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Hell House Ltd (2015) and The Hand. (2023). Further down the list are classic horror films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) at number 23, Freddy’s Chapter 1: The Claws of the Night (1984) at number 25, Halloween, Night of the Dead (1978) at number 26 or The Exorcist (1973 ) on the 32nd place. The Nun 2 (2023), which came in at number 28, turned out to be scarier than The exorcist.

If this research is to be believed, it appears that psychopaths wearing masks or paranormal paraphernalia no longer scare people the way they did 50 years ago.

The top 3 in the rankings, Sinister, Host and The House, are currently available to (re)discover in streaming on the Shadowz platform, available via Amazon Prime Video.