“Scary” is pretty subjective, especially when it comes to the world of horror movies. What makes one person jump out of their seat might make another person yawn. The intense demonic possession story of The Exorcist is a classic example of a terrifying tale, and the raw, gritty, and gruesome story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has continued to generate screams for decades. Movies like Insidious, The Ring, and The Conjuring are also among some of the most terrifying films, but no horror movie can compete with the inescapable dread of this terrifying movie now streaming on Paramount+.
Scott Derrickson’s 2012 supernatural horror gem Sinister is a benchmark for scares, and horror fans looking for a genuinely terrifying time can now stream it on Paramount+. The movie joined the platform’s library on January 1st – but be warned, it’s actually very scary. The film stars Ethan Hawke as a struggling true-crime writer who, desperate for his next bestseller, moves his family into a house that was the scene of a brutal murder. As he begins to unravel the mystery surrounding the family’s brutal demise, depicted on a snuff film, he finds his own family in the path of danger of an encroaching supernatural force.
Sinister Is the Scariest Movie of All Time, According to Science
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There’s no hyperbole here – even science agrees that Sinister is the most terrifying movie ever. The movie has been repeatedly crowned the scariest film of all time by the Science of Scare Project, Broadband Choice’s study that measures viewers’ heart rates. For three of the five years the study has been conducted, Sinister has caused the largest average heart rate increase, making it scientifically proven to induce the most intense fear response. The 2025 study jointly measured the heart rate and heart rate variance of 250 participants to give films a “Scare Score,” and Sinister topped the list with a 96 out of 100. The movie’s scariest moment caused heart rates to jump to 131 bpm.
So what exactly makes Sinister so terrifying? Well, just about everything. The movie opens with an absolutely chilling and disturbing scene filmed with a grainy, old film look that makes the brutal event feel more authentic and throws viewers into the horror and establishes an immediate sense of dread that never relents. Everything that comes after that is just as terrifying, from the unsettling mystery that plays out over the course of the film to the bizarre murders in the Super 8 films, the encroaching supernatural entity and the unsettling score. Sinister excels at creating a deep and creeping sense of inescapable doom that lingers well after the end credits roll.
What’s New on Paramount+?
We won’t fault you if Sinister ranks too high on the scare factor to warrant a watch, and thankfully Paramount+ has plenty of less terrifying streaming options this January. Subscribers looking for something that won’t keep them up at night can now stream movies like 50 First Dates, Baby Driver, Event Horizon, Pixels, and The Martian.
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