What are the scariest movies of all time? Is it Psycho? What about Friday the 13th? Some people can watch horror movies like The Exorcist and then go right to bed, while others regret it in the middle of the night when they can’t sleep. So, is there a way to actually know for sure which horror films produce the biggest scares?
Broadband Choices (now MoneySuperMarket Broadband) runs an experiment every year called The Science of Scare Project to scientifically find the scariest pieces of cinema by measuring the heart rate of viewers to see which films cause their beats-per-minute (BPM) to rise. Let’s see who tops the list this year! But first…
Behind The Spooky Experiment
Okay, real quick – Broadband Choices conducts this study every year with new horror films added to the audience viewing list based on critics, personal lists, experts in the genre, and the horror community. But just because a movie is new, doesn’t mean it’ll scare its way to the top. For instance, the 1984 classic A Nightmare on Elm Street debuted in 2020 as the 13th scariest movie of all time, whereas the 2023 list knocked it down to 25.
Every year Broadband Choices recruits 250 viewers and subjects them to 40 scary movies in a screening room where their heart rate is monitored.
The Science of Scare 2023
Once again, Sinister and Host nabbed the top spots on the list, but this year saw twelve new additions to the experiment, including Smile, Talk to Me, The Dark and the Wicked, and Terrifier 2. However, the 2022 Canadian indie horror film Skinamarink, which went viral after leaked excerpts made their way onto Tiktok and Reddit, made its debut at #3. Not too shabby!
Source: MoneySuperMarket Broadband
Anyway, turn off the lights, grab some popcorn, and good luck sleeping tonight because here are the top six scariest movies according to The Science of Scare 2023.
Top 6 Scariest Movies According to Science
Sinister (2012)
From the very beginning of Sinister, you know it’s going to be scary. If not for the strange opening of several people being hung to death on a tree, it’s the fact that a family has just moved into a new house – which seems to be a catalyst in horror movies for evil tidings. This time a true crime writer finds 8mm film in his new home with links back to a crime story he’s researching. Naturally, the family vacates the home and flees. Just kidding, the writer continues to reveal the horrors of the home, keeping dark secrets from his family and all suffer for it.
Host (2020)
It will be interesting to see if this one drops from the number one spot over the years as Host is a pandemic-inspired flick that was shot via Zoom. Nothing is worse than a Zoom meeting that could have been an email unless it’s a séance gone wrong in which a supernatural entity starts haunting those in the virtual room. Is it scary because of the medium writer/director Ron Savage used during a time when we were all communicating virtually? Only time will tell.
Say goodbye to found footage horror films and give a thumbs-up emoji to Zoom room scares. Remember, if you don’t take yourself off mute, no one can hear you scream.
Skinamirink (2022)
This is the newest addition to the list of 40 and it debuted at #3. A young boy and girl wake up in the middle of the night to discover that their father has mysteriously disappeared. If that’s not frightening for a pair of youngsters, the windows and doors of the house have all been removed. They decide to camp out in the living room where they have a TV and toys to fill the time and find comfort. But mysteries and evil lurk adding heart-racing tension.
This $15,000-budgeted indie film (according to IMDb) has nestled its way into the top five. Will it still be there next year?
Insidious (2010)
Take note, horror writers. Buying a new house, especially in a rural area, can spell trouble (see: Insidious, The Conjuring, Amityville Horror, Beetlejuice). In fact, old creepy houses are perfect settings for hauntings, ghosts, serial killers, and demonic possessions. In Insidious, a family moves into a new house and soon their son becomes comatose with no explanation. They finally discover that demons from The Further are trying to use their child as a portal into our world.
Moral of the story: stick with new construction.
The Conjuring (2013)
James Wan’s second film in the top five scariest movies involves a family moving into a new home (seriously, folks, don’t move, especially not to rural farmhouses) that is haunted by a dark, demonic presence. Who ya gonna call? Paranormal investigators, of course! A husband/wife duo are the saviors who try to rid the home and the family of the evil before it’s too late and open the doors to two sequels and three spin-offs via Annabelle.
Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster’s debut feature became the fifth scariest film according to science. The movie centers on a grieving daughter whose family history of supernatural mental illness comes back to haunt them. Having conducted a séance, Annie (Toni Collette) discovers she has the power to speak with dead relatives. Hereditary is about how tragedies get passed down from previous generations and how they impact the succeeding ones. Horror is often experiencing the unexplained, which happens quite a bit in this scary movie.
For the full list, check out The Science of Scare 2023.
A Few Tips for Creating Scares
Inspired to write your own horror movie now? Good! Not only does the industry love horror scripts but they’re also fun to write. You just have to know which elements to include.
While not every horror movie has these elements, many of the most popular, scariest, and classic films do.
Read More: 25 Films You Have to Watch If You’re Writing a Horror Script
Unsuspecting Victims
Rarely does a horror movie have someone eager to take on a challenge but rather they’re thrust into a horrific setting that they must escape. No one asks to be hunted down by a psychopath in a William Shatner mask but the victims of Halloween are put into such a position. No family would eagerly purchase their dream home thinking it would be the first step into being harassed by demons. And no one wants their daughter possessed by the devil that has to be exorcized back out of her.
Have an Expert
The Exorcist had a priest, The Conjuring had paranormal investigators. And Halloween had Dr. Loomis. These experts can explain the supernatural or who the killers are to the other characters and how they can be defeated. It’s also a great character to have because oftentimes the expert gets frightened which puts the audience on high alert – if they’re scared, you better be too.
Scream (1996)
Read More: What Makes a Killer Horror Movie Character? Common Horror Character Archetypes
What Would You Do?
Being an unsuspecting victim often asks the audience to wonder what they would do in that situation. What if a mysterious caller wants to play a game? What if a possessed doll wouldn’t leave you alone? What if you couldn’t sleep because dreaming meant a boiler room baddie with sharp blades as fingers would kill you? This is likely one of the scariest elements of a horror movie because the viewer probably doesn’t know what they would do so they have to live vicariously through the character to find out.
New Location
See: Sinister, The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, The Haunted Mansion, Insidious, The Watcher. The list goes on. Moving an unsuspecting family to a new house just sets up the possibility that anything bad can and will happen.
Create a Great Monster
Whether it’s a ghost, a demon, or a mysterious creature from an obscure lagoon, your horror movie’s monster or “big bad” is one of the most important aspects of your story. How do you make a monster? Horror screenwriter Seth M. Sherwood provided a ton of great tips in one of our recent blog posts!
Read More: The New Rules: How to Successfully Survive a Modern Horror Movie
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Of course, the scariest movies have similarities to all other stories that keep audiences and viewers engaged: stakes and characters. Horror movies tend to rely more on stakes; just think about the beginning of Scream. We’re introduced to the infamous call from Ghostface by teenager, Casey (Drew Barrymore). We don’t know anything about either character and yet Casey’s high stakes of answering horror movie trivia correctly or dying grabs our attention.
All of the scientifically-proven scary movies involve dire stakes and characters who we all wonder if they will make it to the end. If we don’t care about the character, we likely won’t be invested in the thrills.
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The post These Are the Scariest Movies According to Science appeared first on ScreenCraft.
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Author: Steven Hartman
