When is it appropriate to introduce your child to horror movies? @Horrorjunkie103178 over on Instagram has been recommending films for a younger generation of horror fans. Our laid back teenager was willing to be our subject for one of the most haunting films from our childhood, Poltergeist (1982).

**Prior to monitoring, our subject was quoted as saying, “This is like from the 1980’s, I won’t be scared.”**

Test Subject: Logan

Age : 14

Gender: Male

Fear: Alarm Clocks

Resting HR: 70-75 bpm

Walking HR: 85-90 bpm

ANALYSIS:

With a teenagers resting heart rate slightly above that of an average adult, we can still see three to four defining moments in the film. A bit of unease seemed to raise his heart rate during the first act but not until 40:00 did we see our first true spike. Decent tension was able to raise our subject’s heart rate to 82bpm but a lack of empathy for the children in the film compared to say a mother watching the same scenes, kept his numbers from climbing into higher numbers. A grotesquely iconic moment in the film struck his pulse again and got it racing. Our subject’s peak heart rate came during a scene which haunts most children to this day. His numbers went from a resting 73bpm to a peak of 87bpm within 4:00.That’s impressive shock value for a teenager.

Let’s identify the three major peaks in the scale:

40:00- Tree – 82bpm

1:03-    Face – 83bpm

1:39-    Clown-87bpm

CONCLUSION:

Poltergeist (1982) did a great job of waking a slumbering teen from his resting averages while he attempted to stay cool under pressure. He enjoyed the story more than he thought he would and the scary moments evenly spaced throughout the film added to the excitement. This is a movie that sticks with you after viewing and we could sense our teen needed to watch something silly before going to bed. Mission accomplished Poltergeist.

Poltergeist : Burns an average of 193 Calories for a fourteen year old

One Steak with maggots: 679 Calories

How many Fear Calories did you burn watching Poltergeist? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook