NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDY RANKS 20 SCARIEST MOVIES FOR 2026

The concept of the “scariest movie of all time” is, of course, rather subjective. We all have our own opinions about what is scary, what really keeps us up at night. How could that possibly be quantified into statistics?

One scientific study has been attempting this every year, making their list of the 20 scariest movies of all time. The Science of Scare Project is an annual experiment that measures several factors of an audience members physiology while they watch a selection of horror movies. Every year, the team curates a list of 250 English-language horror movies, and has audience members watch them over the course of several weeks while strapped to a heart rate monitor.

Since 2023, the Science of Scare team has outfitted the results with a “Scare Score”, which combines three metrics —the heart rate (BPM), or the average heart rate throughout the film, the heart rate variability (HRV), the natural variation between heartbeats, and peak heart rate (BPM), the highest point of the heartbeat during the film.

To the criticism of many horror fans overs the years, the winner of the scariest movie of all time is typically Scott Derrickson’s 2012 supernatural horror film Sinister. While it may seem unlikely that this film outranks modern classics like Hereditary and Smile 2, it has been crowned as such every year, save for in 2021 when it was dethroned by Host.

This year brought in many newcomer horror films, such as Obsession, Backrooms, and Undertone, yet Sinister continues to take the cake with a Scare Score of 96/100. This is the fourth consecutive year that the film has won. However, Resident Evil takes home the prize for the project’s biggest jump scare, with a heart-rate peak of 134 BPM.

As for 2026 releases, A24’s Undertone is listed as the scientifically scariest movie of the year, matching Skinamarink for the largest drop in heart rate variability. Other popular releases from this year, such as Obsession and Backrooms, both managed to make the top 50 scariest films, ranked at 35th and 47th respectively.

While collectively we may not agree what the scariest movie of all time is, science certainly has its own answer. Other heavy-hitters on the list include Hereditary ranked high at number six with Smile 2 right behind it at number seven, and a three-way tie for It Follows, The Conjuring 2, and The Dark and the Wicked at number 12.

Host still manages to hold onto second place, but hasn’t unseated Sinister from its number one spot since 2021, the second year of the study’s existence. However, it did raise the BPM of its audience more than any other film on the list, with an average score of 88 BPM.

Other new releases missed the cut entirely for the top fifty films, including Evil Dead Burn, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, Scream 7, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. However, it is important to note that the study mainly measures jump scares, and as we horror fans know, there are many ways for dread to enter our psyches, for fear to take hold in our bodies besides a good old-fashioned jump scare.

So take this list for what it is. It always incites debate every year when it comes out, but really, who can argue with hard scientific facts? Congratulations must be made to Sinister for continuing to maintain its title — whether or not you agree if it’s the scariest film of all time, it certainly makes a splash whenever it’s put in front of an audience.

Here is the full list of the top 20 scariest films, according to the Science of Scare study.

Learn more about the Science of Scare Project and see the complete list of film rankings here.