Trying to find a subject who hasn’t seen The Conjuring (2013) proved to be no easy task. We finally found someone who who almost walked out on Insidious (2010) from the stress and anxiety the film produced. Our hearts were racing with excitement to monitor this subject’s reaction to what many consider James Wan’s scariest film.

Test Subject: Leah

Age : 31

Gender: Female

Fears: Ghosts

Resting HR: 65 bpm

Walking HR: 75-80 bpm

ANALYSIS:

We’d say this chart speaks for itself. Within the first three minutes our subject’s heartbeat was off to the races. The film played on atmospheric tension and slow buildups to establish it’s unnerving scenes without having to resort to cheap jump scares. These moments allowed time to raise her pulse to remarkable numbers. The subject on many occasions had to be reminded to uncover her eyes and breathe. Watching with a sense of foreboding, she climbed to 100bpm at the thirty minute mark and later hit her peak 101bpm in the midst of her extreme terror.

See our subject’s heart-rate rise from 79-90bpm within 20 seconds.

CONCLUSION:

The Conjuring set a new FearScale record for the highest numbers ever recorded. Having four spikes nearing 100bpm and two eventually passing that mark, this film will be categorized as our scariest film to date (of those we monitored). With an almost two hour runtime and at an average of 83bpm, our subject was able to burn an extraordinary amount of calories while in a resting position. So if you’re in possession of an evil cheeseburger calling your name you can easily exorcise those calories by watching this frightening flick.

The Conjuring burns up to 317 Calories

Cheeseburger = 303 Calories

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