Ethan Hawke's 2012 Thriller Outscares The Conjuring and Insidious, Crowned Scariest Movie Ever

Halloween is here, so let’s talk about the movie that keeps wrecking sleep schedules year after year. The annual Science of Scare Survey is back with its anxiety-inducing leaderboard, and once again the top spot belongs to a 2012 Ethan Hawke creepfest that loves a good jump scare: 'Sinister'. Before we get into why that one keeps winning, here’s what this thing actually measures and what else made the cut.

What the Science of Scare actually does

The Science of Scare Survey is a project from Broadband Choices (now MoneySuperMarket Broadband) that tries to quantify fear in a way your smartwatch would approve of. They gather a panel of English-speaking participants, sit them down with a lineup of horror films, and track two things while they watch: heart rate and heart rate variability. The results are ranked by how much viewers’ heart rates climb and how wildly they fluctuate during the movie. It’s a simple premise, but it gives us a fun, apples-to-apples look at what really rattles people.

The five that spiked pulses this time

• Sinister (2012) — IMDb: 6.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 64%, Where to watch: Amazon Video. Ethan Hawke plays a true-crime writer who moves his family into the wrong house and finds some incredibly cursed home movies. It’s stacked with well-timed jumps and a slow-burn dread that gets under your skin.
• The Conjuring (2013) — IMDb: 7.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 86%, Where to watch: Amazon Video. The first big chapter of the Conjuring-verse still hits like a truck. Think classic haunted-house chills, smart set pieces (that hide-and-clap game is brutal), and yes, even the suggestion of the smell of rotting flesh. It earns its reputation.
• Insidious (2011) — IMDb: 6.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 66%, Where to watch: HBO Max. James Wan dials up a nightmare tone and doesn’t let go. Patrick Wilson anchors the story, but it’s the imagery that lingers — including that blink-and-scream window scare that has lived rent-free in way too many brains.
• Skinamarink (2023) — IMDb: 4.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 73%, Where to watch: Amazon Video. Two kids, Kevin and Kaylee, wake up in a world where the rules feel wrong: dad is missing, mom is a topic they won’t touch, objects disappear, and a heavy thumping keeps everything on edge. It’s a vibe-first, liminal-space nightmare that either hypnotizes you or freaks you out — sometimes both.
• Host (2020) — IMDb: 6.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 98%, Where to watch: Amazon Video. A lean, 56-minute British indie set squarely in lockdown: six friends hop on their weekly Zoom, try a seance for fun, and then one (Jemma) claims she’s sensing a deceased schoolmate. From there it spirals fast, with each caller getting their own terrifying visit.

Why 'Sinister' keeps topping the list

Numbers first: Collider’s write-up of the study notes that 'Sinister' viewers saw their heart rates climb to around 86 bpm at the calmer end and spike up to 131 bpm at peak moments. That is a lot of cardio for sitting still. The movie earns it with a nasty combo: an unsettling, droning soundscape; grim-but-elegant cinematography; and those Super 8 reels that feel like true-crime footage someone should have burned. It also sticks the landing — the finale actually pays off the dread it builds, which is rarer than it should be in horror. And yes, Ethan Hawke knew what he was doing when he signed on.

About 'Sinister 2' (and why it didn’t work)

Some stories are better left alone, and this sequel is Exhibit A. 'Sinister 2' technically delivers the sinister presence you came for — it’s evil, it’s menacing, it’s disturbing — but it doesn’t deepen the mythology in a satisfying way. Too many beats feel copy-pasted from the original without the same slow-burn craft, which is why the 2012 film still gets celebrated and the follow-up mostly gets side-eyed by purists.

Where to watch

'Sinister' is streaming on Amazon Video if you want to test your own heart rate monitor tonight.