Tero Vesalainen/iStock(LONDON) — The scariest movie of all time has long been up for debate, but a new study conducted by Broad Band Choices may help put the matter to rest.
The London-based company conducted a test dubbed “The Science of Scare” with 50 horror fans, placing heart monitors on them as they watched several scary movies to see which ones got fans’ blood pumping the most.
According to the results, the 2012 film Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who investigates a series of chilling murders carried out by an evil force, spooked fans the most.
While humans have an average resting heartbeat of around 65 beats per minute, Sinister viewers had an average heart rate of 86 beats per minute, with the highest spike reaching 131.
Coming in second is 2010’s Insidious, which also saw an average heart rate of 85 BPM and a highest spike of 133 BPM. The Conjuring, Hereditary and Paranormal Activity take the 3rd, 4th and 5th-place slots, respectively.
Rounding out the top 20 are modern hits including John Krasinski’s smash horror flick A Quiet Place and 2016’s Hush, along with classics like Halloween, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist.
By Cillea Houghton
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