According to a scientific review, director Scott Derrickson’s 2012 horror hit, Sinister, has been crowned the scariest movie of all time in news that is sure to send as many shocked gasps as any self-respecting horror story. This definitely raises the question; can science really be trusted when it comes to certain kinds of stuff?
“What Is The Scariest Movie Ever? Science Now Has An Answer To That Question… According to the heart rates of participants, no movie scared people more than Sinister, a 2012 horror/thriller that stars Ethan Hawke…”https://t.co/6RgLpxdXrA
— N O S ⋊ Ɔ I ᴚ ᴚ Ǝ ᗡ ⊥ ⊥ O Ɔ S (@scottderrickson) October 18, 2020
The thesis was called the “Science of Scare Project,” and included monitoring the heart rates of participants while watching more than 100 hours of scary movies. To see how much their heart rates increased on average during each film relative to their resting heart rates, each member of the test audience was fitted with a heart rate monitor. The research was carried out on a total of 50 individuals across a number of age groups, with Sinister emerging as the most terrifying cinematic experience they witnessed.
Sinister follows true-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke), who has found himself in a bit of a slump, directed by Scott Derrickson, who took to social media to celebrate the result. In more than 10 years, he hasn’t had a best seller and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, he vows to solve the mystery when he discovers the presence of a snuff film depicting the deaths of a family. He moves his own family into the home of the victims and comes to work. But, when the old footage of the film and the other mysterious things that point out at the presence of something supernatural.
The movie was a massive commercial success as well, with a small budget of only $3 million it made around $88 million at the box office!
The study was done under the supervision of Daniel Clifford, he said, “with more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder.”
During the study, the average heart rate of the subjects was 65 beats per minute, but when shown the Ethan Hawke movie, Sinister, heart rates jumped up to 32% making it around 86 beats per minute. It was the highest amongst all the movies shown to the subjects.
The gruesome film by James Wan, Insidious took on the second place where at one particular scene heart rates rose to a shocking 133 beats per minute. The other movies that followed it were The Conjuring, Hereditary, Paranormal Activity, It Follows, The Conjuring 2, The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit.
Three of James Wan’s movies were in the top ten, which ultimately makes him the King of Horror! It must be noted, however, that the study included the top 50 titles from platforms like IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Reddit. This is one reason why most of the movies included in the test are relatively modern.
The perfect nightmare, I think is the best way to describe this film. There is a strong sense of character development, dark mythology, and incredibly suspenseful scare sequences. If you liked Sinister then you should definitely check our guide to the Halloween movies in order because you need to prove yourself if you consider yourself a fan of horror.
