The 10 scariest movies ranked according to science (and how scary they actually are)
4. Insidious
- Release Year: 2010
- Director: James Wan
- Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson
- Scare Level, According to Us: 3/5
- Where to Watch: Streaming on Max, Amazon Prime Video with the Max add-on, available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Vudu, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple TV
I love the first Insidious movie, but I have such a hard time understanding how it’s always so high on this list year after year! It’s a really entertaining one, but there’s nothing that frightening about it. Non-horror people could probably watch this movie and be fine. Similar to Scott Derrickson, director James Wan also appears on the top 10 list twice, having made The Conjuring as well. I’m a big fan of Wan’s and think he’s great at horror, but that doesn’t mean I think his movies are necessarily very scary.
Insidious follows a married couple whose son falls into a coma without any explanation. As they try to figure out what happened to him, they become targeted by some sort of demonic force and enlist a team of paranormal experts to come help them. There are a few creepy scenes throughout the movie, along with jump scares, and the acting is great. It’s a solid movie I’ve seen multiple times, and it was successful enough at the box office to spawn sequels and prequels.
One of the only movies on this list that’s PG-13, Insidious is totally fine for teenagers and pre-teens to watch. That’s not a bad thing at all; I only mention it to stress that it’s not all that scary.
3. Skinamarink
- Release Year: 2022
- Director: Kyle Edward Ball
- Cast: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, Jaime Hill
- Scare Level, According to Us: 2/5
- Where to Watch: Streaming on Hulu, Shudder, AMC+, Amazon Prime Video with the Shudder or AMC+ add-on, available to rent Google Play Movies & TV, Vudu, Apple TV
*Takes a deep breath.* Okay, I don’t understand the hype around Skinamarink. I don’t like to be a hater, but this is one of the scariest movies? Let me start with the big gripe I have with this movie… I couldn’t see anything! Admittedly, I did watch this one on my laptop which is not the ideal viewing experience, I know, but the number of times I tried to turn the brightness up more when it was all the way up was countless.
I will say, the premise of Skinamarink is really creepy, as is the uncertainness of what’s going on. Audiences might be very scared of what they imagine might happen next. But at the end of it, nothing happens, which is very frustrating. I learned more from reading the synopsis than I did actually watching it.
The trailer is way scarier than the movie, so if you need something to get your heart rate up, I’d suggest just checking that out rather than wasting your time on a 100-minute feature. I appreciate the ambition, but I won’t be adding this to my yearly Halloween watch list anytime soon.