Our hearts raced when we were asked to monitor a film starring Danielle Harris (Halloween 4) and Lew Temple. Being huge fans of the Halloween franchise and The Walking Dead series we were excited to see how high this upcoming VOD horror/thriller could raise our subject’s heart rate.
What is FearScale? We’ve all heard the expression ‘Scared to Death’ or how something ‘Made My Heart Skip a Beat’, but what does that actually look like? Studies have shown that even when subjected to stimuli that can not present a true threat of danger, our bodies will still produce a physiological response. By analyzing real-time results we are able to give you the most accurate reviews for anything that makes your heart race.
SYNOPSIS:
Thirteen-year-old Sprout Grady grows convinced that a monster is haunting the nearby woods. Embarking on a mission to vanquish it, she uncovers horrifying secrets that rock the core of everything she thought she knew.
Test Subject: Leah
Age : 35
Gender: Female
Fears: Ghosts / Spiders
Resting HR: 62-65 bpm
Walking HR: 80-85 bpm
ANALYSIS:
The heavy breathing to open the film had our subject immediately anxious. She had not been given any information on the plot or the story about to unfold. After the opening sequence, the film meandered through beautiful scenery as it established a coming of age story. Dark visions plagued our main character and injected unease into our subject. This is illustrated by the peaks in our scale. A haunting character introduced at 34:00 spiked our subject’s pulse to 79bpm. Her numbers continued to waver above her resting average during the middle of the film. Director Andreas Rovira was not afraid to introduce creepy characters in broad daylight. However, our subject didn’t feel a sense of impending danger from these scenes until later in the film. Her highest peak arrived during a heart racing finale delivered by the excellent young actors. Her pulse escalated from 67bpm to 80bpm in just seven minutes.
CONCLUSION:
Between the Darkness (2019) is a slow burn with an interesting concept. The use of greek mythology to represent the characters’ psyche created a unique storytelling tool. Though categorized as horror, the film’s theme of a girls ascension into womanhood could be considered a drama with horror elements baked in. The beats per minute were unable to exceed a walking heart rate level. However, there were enough tense moments to raise the overall average bpm to burn off over one hundred and fifty calories while viewing.
Between the Darkness: Burns an average of 155 Calories
Greek Salad : 150 Calories
DarkCoast will release the film onto digital streaming platforms August 20th (Amazon, iTunes, inDemand, DIRECTV, Vudu, FANDANGO, Vimeo on Demand, AT&T, Google Play, Sling/Dish).
Are you excited to watch Between the Darkness? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
