In this purely scientific study, 35 terrifying movies were streamed to 50 participants wired to a heart monitor. And the movies that raised their heartbeats the most were ranked as the scariest.
Sinister was ranked number one overall for having raised heart rates with the most participants of the study. Even though Sinister may not really be all that scary compared to some others on the list.
The “Science Of Scare Project” gathered a sample group of 50 people and had them watch “over 120 hours of the best horror movies” as determined by “critic’s lists and Reddit recommendations.” Sinister achieved the highest average heart rate, though James Wan’s Insidious wins for “Biggest Jump Scares By Heart Rate.” The rest of the top 10 consists of Insidious, The Conjuring, Hereditary, Paranormal Activity, It Follows, The Conjuring 2, The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit.