The Scariest Movie Of 2023, According To Science

In some ways, it’s surprising that 2012’s “Sinister” made it to the top of 2023’s most fear-inducing film list. It’s a slow-burn, unhurried character piece built on subtext and unobvious happenings that the audience must ultimately figure out themselves. Ethan Hawke’s very natural, everyday portrayal of true crime author Ellison Oswalt helps a lot, as does the overall premise — a central narrative about family relationships — and a rural Pennsylvania setting. There’s a bit of info dumping here and there and a somewhat unoriginal monster figure, but those shortcomings can be forgiven for the movie’s tight script and spaces of silence that let the viewer breathe and think.

Those spaces of downtime and normalcy between segments of horror might also account for the Science of Scare Project’s metrics, as MoneySuperMarket outlines. As mentioned, the study uses data exclusively derived from heart rate. We’ve got resting heart rate, movie-watching heart rate, heart rate variance (HRV, or the space between beats), heart rate spike, etc. While it’s debatable how accurately such measurements capture the experience of “fear,” the study is nonetheless more accurate than anecdotal Q&As with audience members.   

There’s no discussion anywhere of the study’s sample size, the composition of the study’s population, or the population’s familiarity with horror movies (all critical questions), but we at least know that viewers participated over a few-week period leading up to Halloween. The study also used classics like “The Exorcist,” “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “The Ring,” “The Thing,” and yes, “Alien.”