These are the scariest movies of all time, according to science

We all have that one movie that freaked us out so much it sticks with us to this day. (Mine? The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe—granted, I don’t watch many horror films.) But apparently, there are certain films that actually are the scariest, scientifically.  

Every year, the Science of Scare report names the flicks that officially freaked us out the most. This year, MoneySuperMarket broadband produced the report, which just declared one 2012 title as the scariest movie of all time. 

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That film? Sinister, the supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who puts his family in danger when he becomes obsessed with a series of grisly events documented in chilling 8mm footage.

So, what exactly makes Sinister so spine-chilling? Well first, you need to know how the report was created. The Scare List brings together the scariest films from critics' best-of lists, forums and subreddits, expert recommendations, major theatrical releases and, fan suggestions. (It also does only English-language films.) A panel of judges watches the movies and gets strapped up to heart monitors. (No joke.) 

The Science of Scare Score then combines three metrics: heart rate (BPM), a.k.a. how much the movie raised the audience's average heart rate throughout its duration; heart rate variability (HRV), the natural variation in time between heartbeats (the bigger the drop in HRV, the more stressed our audience became); and peak heart rate (BPM), the highest point our audience's heart rate reached during the movie.

After collecting each film's average heart rate increase, biggest heart rate spike and HRV drop, they combine them to create a Science of Scare Score out of 100. (They rated Shrek a 3, for instance.)

So, about Sinister: It pushed the panel's average heart rate up 34%, from 64 BPM to 86 BPM, peaking at 131 BPM during its most terrifying scene, the study says. 

“However, what sets Sinister apart is its rare ability to build dread, delivering sustained tension alongside its jump scares, partly thanks to its eerie sound design,” the report adds. “That sinking feeling meant viewers' HRV fell by 21%, a drop beaten only by Skinamarink and newcomer Undertone.” 

Sinister first took the crown in the inaugural 2020 study, before losing it to Host in 2021. It won it back in 2023 under its new Scare Score methodology, and has stayed on top ever since. 

Here’s the full list of films and how they rank and the average heart rate spike, etc.

Following Sinister is Rob Savage’s Host, which is in second place once again because it scored a 95, raising heart rates more than any other film on the list, to an average of 88 BPM. Skinamarink stayed in third with a score of 91. The experimental horror lacks a traditional narrative yet gave audiences an impressive 22% HRV drop—the joint biggest on our list, they said. 

Wondering how this year’s new films fared? Of the 15 movies that premiered this year, only five made it to the top 50 scariest movies of all time: the paranormal podcast horror film Undertone by Ian Tuason (33rd place tying with Hush for a Scare Score of 63).

Other new entries were ranked as the following:

• Obsession by Curry Baker (35=): It’s the highest-ranked newcomer after Undertone at 63, which was helped by a 16% HRV drop, with Inde Navarrette's now-iconic restaurant and house party scenes driving its most tense moments. 
• Insidious: Out of the Further (41): It raised heart rates by 13 BPM—the most of any new entry— for a Scare Score of 60. 
• Hokum from Damian McCarthy (43): Its Scare Score was 57, with a 15% HRV drop, which is the third biggest among this year's new films. 
• Backrooms (47=): the creepypasta-based mega hit made it into the top 50 with a score of 54, level with Lights Out. 

The study also looked at the biggest horror jump scares. The biggest one came from Zach Cregger's Resident Evil (2026), which sent the panel's heart rate up to 134 BPM—a 70 BPM jump, and the highest spike of any film in the project's history.  It edges out Insidious (133 BPM), which had held the record since the first study in 2020. But Resident Evil narrowly missed the overall top 50, probably because its second half shifts into darkly comic action, giving our panel's heart rates a chance to settle. 

Below is the top 10 ranking of jump scares.

Interestingly, the most-featured actor in these films is Patrick Wilson, who appeared in six of the top 50 films across The Conjuring and Insidious franchises. Someone else unpack that—I’m too scared.