The five scariest movies of 2023, according to science
Fans of horror are constantly looking for their next fix of terror, whether it’s the thrills of an indie A24 movie, such as Hereditary and The Witch, or a violent mainstream supernatural flick from such franchises as Insidious or The Conjuring. But there’s nothing more annoying for a horror lover than getting to the end of a film and staring at the screen thinking, ‘That wasn’t scary’.
That’s why, on an annual basis, a team of 250 experts get together to compile a list of the scariest movies of the year, with test subjects being fitted with heart rate monitors to test how scared they were watching certain movies throughout the runtime. Quite simply, the higher the beats per minute of the average viewer, the scarier the movie, creating a fairly accurate list of the most terrifying films of all time.
At number five on the list of the scariest movies of the year is the fifth instalment in the Evil Dead series, Evil Dead Rise, a film that brings back the camp comedy of the original flicks by director Sam Raimi and prompted an average of 75 BPM. Elsewhere, at number four, is The Nun 2, a spin-off of The Conjuring franchise, which follows the titular Nun in her gothic hauntings, with the sequel causing 76 BPM on average.
Insidious: The Red Door, the fifth instalment in the horror franchise, is the third movie on the list of the scariest movies of 2023, recording 76 BPM. Starring the cast of the original 2010 film, The Red Door follows the central Lambert family later in life, who must travel back into the ominous otherworld donned ‘The Further’ to rid themselves of paranormal activity once and for all.
The A24 flick Talk to Me from the YouTube duo the RackaRacka twins is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful horror flicks of 2023, as well as the second scariest, recording 79 BPM on average. Telling the story of Mia (Sophie Wilde), who engages in a strange party game where she grabs an embalmed hand in an effort to conjure spirits, Talk to Me is an emotional rollercoaster of a horror film.
But, according to the scientific study, the scariest movie of 2023 is none other than the low-budget indie horror Skinamarink from director Kyle Edward Ball, clocking in an average of 84 BPM. A strange, subtle and slow horror, the film tells the story of two children who awake in the middle of the night to find that their father is missing along with all the windows and doors to his home.
Take a look at the full list of the scariest movies of 2023 below.
The scariest movies of 2023:
- Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin)
- The Nun 2 (Michael Chaves)
- Insidious: The Red Door (Patrick Wilson)
- Talk to Me (Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou)
- Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball)
