What's The Scariest Movie Ever According To Science?

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Science of Scare revealed the scariest horror movie ever

This page was last updated on 10/23/24

2024 Science of Scare Results - Sinister on Top Again

It is that time of year again where the Science of Scare Project select the scariest movie ever.

Last year it was Sinister that came out on top, and again in the latest Science of Scare Project edition, Sinister has yet again finished in the first position.

2024 saw 10 new films enter the experiment, but only one of the new films made the top twenty, and that was Oddity, which is a great film and you can read my Oddity review too if you would like?

What this meant too was the 2024 results were fairly similar to the 2023 results.

The new films that were entered this year were the following, but as said above, only Oddity cracked the top 20.

Oddity (20th)
Terrifier 3 (23rd)
Stopmotion (24th)
Immaculate (40th)
LongLegs (42nd)
The First Omen (47th)
Late Night With The Devil (49th)
Alien Romulus (NR)
Speak No Evil (NR)
The Substance (NR)

Check out the full list or read about the 2023 experiment and results below which I posted about earlier this year.

2023 Science of Scare Results - Sinister Wins

Since 2020, The Science of Scare Project has been selecting 250 film enthusiasts to watch a series of English-language horror films while wearing heart rate monitors, and the results are then analyzed to determine which movies caused the highest spikes in heart rate. 

In the latest Science of Scare Project 2023, a new scoring system was introduced that combines heart rate and heart rate variance to create a Science of Scare score out of 100. 

And the winner of this year's project was and determined by science to be the scariest movie ever made is...DRUM ROLL PLEASE.... Sinister. 

Sinister follows the story of a true-crime writer who moves his family into a home where a family was brutally murdered, only to discover that a supernatural force may be at work.

Now I know it's not the most scientific experiment ever, but still, while I enjoyed the movie, if I had to guess what was number one, Sinister would not have even entered my head. 

While it had a few good moments, it's a surprising film to see top the list in my view!

But the beauty of horror movies lies in its subjectivity. 

What terrifies one person may not faze another, and vice versa, so while Sinister may not have been anywhere near my top pick, I can certainly appreciate it.

According to the findings, the movie received an impressive overall scare score of 96/100, with the highest recorded heart rate spike reaching 131 BPM — more than double the average resting heart rate of 64.

Coming in a close second was the 2020 film Host, followed by Skinamirink in third place. 

As for the scariest scene in a movie, it was the fourth-place film Insidious that had viewers hearts racing with a heart rate spike of 133 BPM during the biggest jump scare. 

Although it did not reveal the particular scene! But I think we can guess, right?

The top ten included movies such as The Conjuring, Hereditary, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Also making the cut are Smile, Hell House LLC, Skinamarink and Talk To Me. All leaving their mark on the heart rates of the participants.

The Science of Scare Project have conducted these tests in 2020, 2021 and 2022.