We love watching horror films for cheap thrills and jump scares and there’s no denying that. But, have you ever wondered which is the scariest horror film of all time? Well, broadbandchoices ‘Science of Scare’ project has the answer to that.
They conducted a study by monitoring the heart rate of 50 viewer’s for more than 100 hours of horror films in order to determine the scariest films in history and here are the results.
1. Sinister
Average heart rate: 86 BPM
Highest spike: 131 BPM
Ellison Oswald, a writer moves into an old house with his family and stumbles upon old film footage and other clues that hint at the presence of a supernatural force.
2. Insidious
Average heart rate: 85 BPM
Highest spike: 133 BPM
A couple move into a new house to start a fresh, but their son, Dalton, suddenly falls into a coma and paranormal events start to take place in the house.
3. The Conjuring
Average heart rate: 84 BPM
Highest spike: 129 BPM
The Perron family moves into a farmhouse where they experience the supernatural and seek help from demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to get rid of the evil entity.
4. Herediatary
Average heart rate: 83 BPM
Highest spike: 109 BPM
The horror begins when a mother and her children begin to unravel terrifying secrets about their ancestry as they try to outrun the ominous fate they have inherited.
5. Paranormal Activity
Average heart rate: 82 BPM
Highest spike: 127 BPM
Katie and Micah move into a suburban residence but they soon start to experience the presence of evil forces in the house.
6. It Follows
Average heart rate: 81 BPM
Highest spike: 93 BPM
A teenager’s life turns upside-down after she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sexual intercourse.
7. The Conjuring 2
Average heart rate: 80 BPM
Highest spike: 120 BPM
Peggy, a single mother seeks help from demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren when she and her children experience strange, paranormal events in their house.
8. The Babadook
Average heart rate: 80 BPM
Highest spike: 116 BPM
A single mother struggles with her son’s fear of a monster that’s lurking in the house. She struggles to keep him safe after she experiences the horror herself.
9. The Descent
Average heart rate: 79 BPM
Highest spike: 122 BPM
When a group of friends go on an expedition to a cave, their trip turns into a nightmare when they get trapped inside the cave and are chased by blood-thirsty predators.
10. The Visit
Average heart rate: 79 BPM
Highest spike: 100 BPM
Becca and Taylor have the most terrifying experience after they go on a week-long stay at their grandparents’ place who they’ve never met.
11. The Ring
Average heart rate: 79 BPM
Highest spike: 107 BPM
Rachel, a young journalist investigates a mysterious videotape, after her niece, Katie’s horrifying death, that kills its viewers within a week’s time.
12. A Quiet Place
Average heart rate: 78 BPM
Highest spike: 122 BPM
Where half the world has been killed by blind but noise sensitive creatures, a family struggles for survival as they are forced to communicate in sign language.
13. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Average heart rate: 78 BPM
Highest spike: 104 BPM
A young girl struggles to keep awake at night after a clawed killer butchers her friends one by one in their dreams.
14. Halloween
Average heart rate: 77 BPM
Highest spike: 101 BPM
Laurie Strode confronts Michael Myers after being held captive by him, four decades ago. She faces her worst fears and tries to put an end to his killing spree.
15. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Average heart rate: 77 BPM
Highest spike: 98 BPM
Sally, Franklin and their friends live through their worst nightmare when each of them is tormented and killed by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his psychopathic family.
16. 28 Days Later
Average heart rate: 77 BPM
Highest spike: 95 BPM
After a mysterious virus has devastating effects in the UK, a group of survivors try to find ways to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.
17. The Exorcist
Average heart rate: 77 BPM
Highest spike: 92 BPM
Things take a turn for the worse after Regan, a young girl, starts displaying bizarre behaviour and ends up getting possessed by a demon after she plays with a Ouija board.
18. Hush
Average heart rate: 76 BPM
Highest spike: 86 BPM
A deaf writer fights for her life after she retreats into the woods to live in solidarity where she comes face-to-face with a masked killer.
19. IT
Average heart rate: 75 BPM
Highest spike: 89 BPM
Seven children are forced to face their worst nightmare when a shape-shifting clown, known to torment children before killing them, makes a comeback into their lives.
20. Scream
Average heart rate: 73 BPM
Highest spike: 81 BPM
Sidney starts to investigate a series of murders a year after her mother’s demise in order to find the real killer as everyone seems to be a suspect.
Which horror film terrified you the most?