Scary movies get your heart racing. And a new study has attempted to rank the scariest horror films of all time by monitoring viewers’ average heart rates. The project followed the heart rates of over 50 people across more than 100 hours of horror films to try and determine the scariest films of all time. Here are the results…
#10: The Visit
ShareThe Visit is a 2015 American found footage horror-comedy film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn. The film centers around teenage Becca and her younger brother Tyler who live with their single mother, who left home 15 years ago and is estranged from her parents. After finding their grandchildren online and wanting to meet them, the grandparents invite them to spend a week at their farm, while their mother goes off with her boyfriend. Aspiring filmmaker Becca and her brother Tyler decide to go, and Becca decides to make a documentary of their visit. Strange behaviors and dark, disturbing secrets soon emerge
#9: The Descent
ShareThe Descent is a 2005 British adventure horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows six women who, having entered a cave system, struggle to survive against the humanoid creatures inside. Filming took place in the United Kingdom. Exterior scenes were filmed at Ashridge Park, Hertfordshire, and in Scotland. Because the filmmakers considered it too dangerous and time-consuming to shoot in an actual cave, interior scenes were filmed on sets built at Pinewood Studios near London designed by Simon Bowles.
#8: The Babadook
ShareThe Babadook is a 2014 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her directorial debut,[3] and produced by Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Molière. The film stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear. It is based on Kent's 2005 short film Monster. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 17 January,[4][5] and generated attention and critical acclaim in the United States and Europe, grossing $10.3 million against a $2 million budget. The Babadook was initially not a commercial success in Australia and was given a limited release in art house theatres, beginning on 22 May 2014.
#7: The Conjuring 2
ShareThe Conjuring 2 (known in the UK and Ireland as The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case [4][5]) is a 2016 American supernatural horror film, directed by James Wan. The screenplay is by Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes, Wan, and David Leslie Johnson. It is the sequel to 2013's The Conjuring, the second installment in The Conjuring series, and the third installment in the Conjuring Universe franchise. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their roles as paranormal investigators and authors Ed and Lorraine Warren from the first film. The film follows the Warrens as they travel to the United Kingdom to assist the Hodgson family, who are experiencing poltergeist activity at their Enfield council house in 1977 which later became referred to as the Enfield poltergeist.
#6: It Follows
ShareIt Follows is a 2014 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, and starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, and Lili Sepe.[4] The film follows a teenage girl named Jay, who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter.
#5: Paranormal Activity
ShareParanormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film utilizes found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.
#4: Hereditary
ShareHereditary is a 2018 American horror film written and directed by Ari Aster, in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro and Gabriel Byrne as a family haunted by a mysterious presence after the death of their secretive grandmother.
#3: The Conjuring
ShareThe Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the inaugural film in the Conjuring Universe franchise.[3] Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting. Their purportedly real-life reports inspired The Amityville Horror story and film franchise.[4] The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.
#2: Insidious
ShareInsidious is a 2010 American-Canadian supernatural horror film directed by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Barbara Hershey. It is the first installment in the Insidious franchise, and the third in terms of the series' in-story chronology. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for a variety of entities in an astral dimension known as 'The Further' who want to inhabit his body.
#1: Sinister
ShareSinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson, and Vincent D'Onofrio. The plot revolves around true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) whose discovery of home movies depicting grisly murders found in the attic of his new house puts his family in danger.
