What's The Scariest Movie Ever According To Science? (2025 Results)

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Science of Scare revealed the scariest horror movie ever

Science of Scare Project 2025

So we now have the Science of Scare project results for 2025, and scroll down to read about the last couple of years and what it actually is - but if you're in the know about it, I will just mention some of this years highlights.

So much like last year, Sinister came out on top again, with a combined score of 96.

These were the top 50 scariest horror movies ever, according to science, for 2025. (Don't try and take it too seriously!)

Sinister
Host
Skinamirink
Insidious
The Conjuring
Hereditary
Smile 2
Smile
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Talk To Me
Hell House LLC
The Conjuring 2/It Follows/The Dark and the Wicked
The Descent
Paranormal Activity
The Babadook
A Quiet Place Part 2
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Insidious 2
Oddity
The Ring
Terrifier 2
Bring Her Back
Terrifier 3
Stopmotion
A Quiet Place
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Barbarian
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Halloween (1978)
Insidious: The Red Door
Hush
The Nun 2
The Exorcist
The Visit
IT (2017)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
The Blair Witch Project
Paranormal Activity 2
Evil Dead Rise
Immaculate
Lights Out
Longlegs
Saw X
28 Days Later/The Grudge
Oculus
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Weapons

Science of Scare Project 2024

It is that time of year again where the Science of Scare Project select the scariest movie ever according to science.

Since 2020, The Science of Scare Project has been selecting 250 film enthusiasts to watch a series of English-language horror films while wearing heart rate monitors, and the results are then analyzed to determine which movies caused the highest spikes in heart rate. 

In last years Science of Scare Project 2023, a new scoring system was introduced that combines heart rate and heart rate variance to create a Science of Scare score out of 100, and it was Sinister that came out on top, and yet again in the latest Science of Scare Project edition, Sinister has yet again finished in the first position.

Sinister follows the story of a true-crime writer who moves his family into a home where a family was brutally murdered, only to discover that a supernatural force may be at work.

Now I know it's not the most scientific experiment ever, but still, while I enjoyed the movie, if I had to guess what was number one, Sinister would not have even entered my head. 

But what terrifies one person may not faze another, and vice versa, so while Sinister may not have been anywhere near my top pick, I can certainly appreciate it.

The 2024 Science of Scare Project also saw 10 new films enter the experiment, but only one of the new films made the top twenty, and that was Oddity, which is a great film.

The new films that were entered this year were the following, but as said above, only Oddity cracked the top 20.

Oddity (20th)
Terrifier 3 (23rd)
Stopmotion (24th)
Immaculate (40th)
LongLegs (42nd)
The First Omen (47th)
Late Night With The Devil (49th)
Alien Romulus (NR)
Speak No Evil (NR)
The Substance (NR)

The top ten included movies such as The Conjuring, Hereditary, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. 

Also making the cut are Smile, Hell House LLC, Skinamarink and Talk To Me, all leaving their mark on the heart rates of the participants.

As for the scariest scene in a movie, it was the fourth-place film Insidious that had viewers hearts racing with a heart rate spike of 133 BPM during the biggest jump scare. 

Although it did not reveal the particular scene! But I think we can guess, right?

Check out the full list,