The Top 10 Scariest Movies Of All-Time According To Science

Here are the top 10 scariest movies of all-time according to science. Do you agree with the science?

Each year, the Science of Scare Project curates a list of the most terrifying English language films and puts them to our 250 strong panel.

Our test subjects are invited to special screenings of our movies where they are fitted with heart rate monitors and their heart rate is tracked throughout each movie.

To prevent audience fatigue, screenings take place over the course of several weeks throughout the year, before we publish our results in October, just in time for Halloween.

Of note on this year’s list are a handful of new movies from 2024 like Oddity (20th), Terrifier 3 (23rd), Stopmotion (24th), Immaculate (40th) and Longlegs (42nd).

#horror #movies #scary

[FightTheGoodFight.]

I definitely don't trust the "science" on some of these.

[chriscecil]

I don’t know how Sinister can be number one. I just watched it last week and it seemed more like a mystery movie to me than a horror film.

[DangerousDevilOfficial]

The fact that the original Exorcism wasn't on the list and "Emily Rose" was, makes me not trust this list at all.

[cheebagardens]

Must have taken a long time for the subjects to watch every English movie ever.

[debraperry]

I’ve seen hereditary please don’t watch all alone watch it with 6 people that’s how scary it is

[martin..]

Lost me at talk 2 me, good movie but not that scary

[omnitrix]

The only scary part in Skinamarink is even the phone rings

[Army_Dog]

Smile was awful what are those scientists smoking?

[solidsnack]

Weird how none of the movies were made before 2000 and the Original Extorcist isn't on the list...

[helloPiper]

Hell House was the scariest movie I've ever watched 😭🖐️

[liamcarmody]

How the hell is The Exorcist not on this list let alone topping it

[psychomoth]

I’m surprised “Babadook” (aka the most overrated horror movie ever) wasn’t on this list.
And BEFORE people jump down my throat, I enjoyed it and think it’s a good movie. It was just massively overhyped for a while.

[mellorbrettson]

Skinamarink was awful. I appreciate the effort in doing something different, but it was an absolute chore to sit through. So boring.

[NumkEditor]

Insidious and hereditary werent scary at all

[MsUltraBob]

Seems like they only watched mainstream horror movies. There are movies that are a lot scarier to me like Ju-On the Grudge, Shutter (the original) or REC (the last 10 minutes are terrifying).

[Zangy]

I dont agree with much from the list but sinister is probably the scariest thing ive seen on first watch. As a kid, i thought the boogeyman or dead kids were going to come in my room and try and get me!

[SqUiDgAmE_fAn]

I watched insidious when I was 9 it's not that scary there's only a couple jump scares and the monsters aren't scary it shouldn't be on this list

[Mjsnananbbsie]

The ring is pretty scary to me I don’t want nobody with wet hair around me 😂

[leahcoleman]

I can agree... Sinister is the best of all time to me!

[jetdragons]

I didn't see a scary movie on that list. 😂