There’ve been some pretty terrifying films released over the last few years, from the scariest horror movie of 2023, “Skinamarink,” to one of the nastiest in recent memory, “Terrifier 3.” But there’s no science backing these films’ scares. 2012’s “Sinister,” however, has actually been shown by one study to be the scariest movie ever made, and while such claims are ultimately subjective, this supernatural horror flick is actually pretty tough to get through. If you’re yet to attempt such a feat, you can now do so with a Hulu subscription … if you dare.
Directed by Scott Derrickson, who also co-wrote the film with former critic C. Robert Cargill, “Sinister” stars Ethan Hawke as true crime writer Ellison Oswalt. As the struggling author’s glory days are long behind him, he attempts to write another hit book by doing what any man in his position would: He moves his family into a house where the previous owners were murdered — hanged, to be precise. Oh, and he doesn’t tell any of them about the whole hanging thing. As such, “Sinister” is both a horror movie and a character study of a man so possessed by the urge to succeed that he puts his loved ones in harm’s way (literally).
Oswalt soon finds a box of home movies in the attic of his new home, each of which turns out to be a snuff film depicting the murders of several families in the house over the years. In time, he also discovers that a supernatural figure has been orchestrating the killings, leading him further into the darkness as he pushes on with his investigation. That might not sound all that bad, but all you have to do is watch the opening sequence to feel overcome by dread.
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Watch Sinister for some science-backed scares
Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt looking deeply concerned in SInister – Lionsgate
“Sinister” begins with a chilling scene in which a family is hung from a tree. Shot on real Super 8 film (like all the other snuff sequences), this terrifying opening is only made worse when you know what went into making it. (A stunt man almost hung himself after initial attempts went awry.) And while the movie has its share of jump scares and horror tropes, it’s also full of these unsettling Super 8 sequences in which families are killed in heart-wrenching ways. These are easily the hardest parts of “Sinister” to watch and the main contributors to the film’s reputation as one of the scariest ever made.
On that point, it seems science agrees. At least one study by broadbandchoices (a comparison tool for broadband deals in the United Kingdom) backs up such claims. As reported by Forbes, the site’s “Science of Scare Project” tracked the heart rates of 50 people as they watched more than 100 hours of scary films. The results were used to compile a list of movies that caused the participants’ heart rates to jump the most, which broadbandchoices characterized as a list of the scariest 35 movies ever made. At the top? “Sinister,” which apparently caused viewers’ heart rates to jump from an average resting rate of 65 BPM to 86 BPM.
Anyone whose seen “Sinister” doesn’t need a study to tell them it’s one of the scariest films ever made. The sustained sense of doom that comes from watching Super 8 footage of families being dispatched, combined with the underlying sense that Ellison Oswalt is subconsciously willing to sacrifice his own family for success, are more than enough. As disturbing horror movies go, then, “Sinister” is one of the best, and well worth a stream this Halloween.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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