What’s the scariest horror movie of all time? It’s a big question with multiple factors to consider but new research has revealed the one that will never fail to haunt your nightmares.
The possibilities are endless with old classics like Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Nightmare on Elm Street, and modern favourites like The Conjuring and Insidious among the typical contenders.
However, it might take a lot more than just Michael Myers stalking the local neighbourhood to keep you awake at night.
According to research conducted by Beds Divans, the horror movie that people lose sleep over the most is… drum roll please…
The Blair Witch Project!
Yes, the 1999 blockbuster has been named as the one horror you should probably avoid this Halloween… or watch if you dare.
The Blair Witch Project pretty much introduced the found footage subgenre of horror and was an unprecedented box office success, grossing almost $250million worldwide on its modest budget of $300,000.
Research revealed that more than 100 people said they ‘couldn’t sleep’ after watching the creepy feature film, which has an overall scare score of 2818 points.
Finishing runner-up as the second most likely horror to cause insomnia is The Ring, which scored 2,098 points on the scare scale.
The Exorcist is in third place with 1,601 points, The Conjuring at number four with 1,588 and IT coming last as the fifth scariest with 1,581.
Nevsah Fidan Karamehmet, Vice President of The Graduate School of Behavioural Sciences, shared her insight into the psychology of horror films.
The psychologist explained: ‘People who have nightmares are people who seek pleasure and happiness in life and try to avoid feelings like fear, stress, depression, or sadness.
‘The need to avoid fear and sadness is a reason why people have nightmares and why they have sleeping problems. If you are running away from certain thoughts and feelings, you will have more of them when you are trying to relax. That is why mindfulness practices and Vedic meditation is one of the strongest transformation tools ever used on earth.’
She added: ‘These tools help us face our fears, stress, and any unpleasant feeling, helping us stay in those feelings so that we can transform them and stop running away from them.’
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