We have different tastes in horror movies. Some people need a compelling story to go with the scares, while others just appreciate the thrills and tons of jump scares. Some would enjoy the gore, and others would prefer to skip them.
This is why naming the scariest movie of all time will probably conjure a lot of debates. But through a science experiment, one horror movie rose above the others, and it is the 2012 film Sinister.
This film by Scott Derrickson follows the true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt who is desperate to release the next bestseller. He gets obsessed with a series of family murders and child kidnappings and vows to solve it. But when he finds a box of films featuring the families’ deaths, he would realize that a sinister supernatural force is at play here– and his family might just be the next victims.
So how did the experiment name Sinister as the scariest film? BroadBand Choices –a tool that compares broadband deals– conducted The Science of Scare project and came up with that conclusion.
First, they rounded up the 50 scariest films based on critic’s lists and Reddit recommendations. Then with a 5.1 surround sound setup, they showed the films to 50 people whose heart rates are being monitored. Sinister gave the viewers’ hearts the highest BPM (beats per minute) while watching the movie; specifically 86 BPM which is far from the average 65 BPM heart rate.
In second place is James Wan’s Insidious which also topped the charts when it comes to jump scares, fetching the highest spike from the viewers’ heart rates. It is followed by the films The Conjuring, Hereditary, Paranormal Activity, and It Follows.
Check out the full list below:
For more information about the experiment, visit the BroadBand Choices website.
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