What’s the Scariest Movie of the Decade?

In celebration of Halloween and another decade of horror movies, entertainment and gadgets site Reviews.org has pinpointed the scariest movie of the last 10 years.

After scouring Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB and Metacritic for the most highly acclaimed horror movies since 2010, the Reviews.org team shortlisted and ranked the scariest ones.

But it didn’t stop there. A scary-movie veteran and horror-movie “scaredy cat” were brought in to view the shortlisted flicks together. The heart rates of each were recorded, while both provided written feedback on the just how horrifying each film was.

The verdict? If you want to scare yourself silly this Halloween, watch Hereditary.  

When it comes to the 2018 American supernatural horror-drama, expert opinion (“Hereditary raises the bar on emotional agony,” wrote Vulture’s David Edelstein), viewer opinion and heart rate data all married up. Not only was Hereditary the Reviews pick for scariest movie of the decade, it also recorded the most elevated heart rates by the viewers with the highest peak heart rate at 175 beats per minute! Naturally, it was voted most scary by the viewers. 

A close second was The Conjuring (2013), while 2011’s Insidious took the bronze.

The horror fan appeared to get the biggest physical “hit” from watching the movies compared to the more horror-phobic viewer, recording higher peak heart rates while watching all the films. Could a horror addiction be real because the highs are higher? 

Indeed, scary films appear to be physical workouts as well as psychological ones, especially those that keep sending the viewer’s heart rate racing throughout the film. When watching each film the viewers typically burned well over 200 calories, while during Hereditary one viewer burned a staggering 685 calories!

For the full list and review of the Best Horror Movies of the Decade, along with more detailed viewer response data, click here.