Every year, the Science of Scare project gathers together 250 people to help determine the most frightening horror movies ever made. While Scott Derrickson’s 2012 film Sinister and the 2020 UK film Host have been trading the top spots since the project began in 2020, a new independent horror movie has emerged out of Ireland this year to crack the Top 20, beating out a number of other 2024 films that were nowhere to be seen.
According to science, Damian McCarthy’s Oddity is now one of the scariest horror movies in history based on the data that was collected from a fresh group of 250 people that screened a plethora of spooky films throughout the year. Premiering at the South by Southwest festival back in March, Oddity made its way to the streaming service Shudder on September 27, and has been giving people the creeps ever since. Certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical ranking of 96%, its audience score sits at a healthy 78% from over 1,000 fan reviews, with many people echoing the results of the scientific study by calling it one of the most “terrifying” movies they’ve ever seen.
Starring Carolyn Bracken as twins Dani and Darcy, Oddity opens with the death of Dani at the hands of what’s believed to be an escaped patient from the mental health institution her husband works at. A year later, her blind sister, who runs a curiosity shop containing a number of cursed items inserts herself into the life of her former brother-in-law and his new girlfriend, convinced that there’s more to Dani’s death than meets the eye. She brings with her one of the most chilling objects from her collection (seriously, it’s really freaky) to help get to the bottom of things, but is she right, or are Darcy’s suspicions totally off base? We won’t spoil things here, as it’s best to check out Oddity for yourself on Shudder if you truly want to experience its hair-raising frights. Go on, we dare you.
How Science Was Able to Determine the Top 20 Scariest Movies
Are you wondering how science was able to determine which horror movies are the most terrifying of all? We’re glad you asked, because it’s simple, really. Each person involved in the study is hooked up to a monitor that measures their heart rate, and, as the Science of Scare project tells it:
“With heart rate (BPM), the higher the number, the faster the movie got our audiences’ blood pumping, an indicator of excitement and fear as part of your fight or flight instinct. On the other hand, heart rate variance (HRV) measures the time in between each beat of your heart. The lower the heart rate variance the more stressed our audience members became, a good indicator of slow burn fear and dread.”
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Like we said, simple, right? When you take into consideration that 2024 has given us the likes of Longlegs, Late Night with the Devil, Terrifier 3, The Substance, Immaculate, and The First Omen, it’s remarkable that a little known Irish movie such as Oddity came out of nowhere to shiver our timbers. It’s proof positive that horror can come in any shape or size, and doesn’t necessarily have to be produced for tens of millions of dollars to be effective in the hands of the right director. Check out the full list below of the Top 20 scariest horror movies ever made according to science.
- Sinister
- Host
- Skinamarink
- Insidious
- The Conjuring
- Hereditary
- Smile
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose
- Talk to Me
- Hell House LLC
- The Conjuring 2
- It Follows
- The Dark and the Wicked
- The Descent
- Paranormal Activity
- The Babadook
- A Quiet Place Part 2
- The Autopsy of Jane Does
- Insidious 2
- Oddity
When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted are renovating, everyone suspects a patient from the local mental health institution, where Ted is a doctor. However, soon after the tragic killing, the suspect is found dead. A year later, Dani’s blind twin sister Darcy, a self-proclaimed psychic and collector of cursed items, pays an unexpected visit to Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana. Convinced that there was more to her sister’s murder than people know, Darcy has brought with her the most dangerous items from her cursed collection to help her exact revenge.
- Release Date
- July 19, 2024
- Director
- Damien Mc Carthy
- Cast
- Gwilym Lee , Carolyn Bracken , Tadhg Murphy , Caroline Metnon , Steve Wall , Johnny French , Joe Rooney , Josuha Campbell
- Main Genre
- Horror