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There’ve been some pretty terrifying films released over the last few years, from the scariest horror movie of 2023, “Skinamarink,”<\/a> to one of the nastiest in recent memory, “Terrifier 3.”<\/a> 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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n