Over the years, we've seen the Science of Scare Project measure heart rates to determine which movie is the scariest, with Sinister taking the top score multiple years in a row. That project involved a small group of test subjects, and then the results were published in time for the Halloween season. But what if you could test how much a horror movie scares you and your friends? That's the aim of ScareScore, which will use physiological signals to give you a personalized "ScareScore." Rolling out to film festivals and select screenings this year, we have the first details on ScareScore and the company's vision for measuring fear:
New entertainment technology launches this Halloween season at film festivals and location-based experiences, turning real-time audience reactions into personalized scores and synchronized audience intelligence.
LOS ANGELES (OCTOBER 1, 2026) — ScareScore today announced the formation of its company and the upcoming launch of a new biometric entertainment platform that measures how audiences physically respond to movies and adrenaline-filled experiences in real time.
The idea is simple: Your body is the review.
Launching at major film festivals and location-based entertainment experiences across North America this Halloween season, ScareScore connects with the smartwatch or wearable device you already own to measure physiological signals, including heart rate, heart-rate variability, and movement, establishing an individual baseline and transforming your real-time reactions into a personalized ScareScore.
Instead of asking audiences their opinions on how scared they were after the fact, ScareScore reveals the actual biometric signals behind an audience’s experience, measuring how their bodies react in real time as the action unfolds. Fans can share and compare scores, compete with friends, and see how their reactions stack up against other audiences.
For filmmakers, studios, festivals and theme park operators, the platform offers something equally valuable: a new way to understand real-time audience engagement showing not just how audiences responded, but when they responded, moment by moment, beyond traditional surveys, ratings and self-reported opinion.
“Entertainment has spent more than a century asking audiences what they thought after an experience was over,” said Chris Anastas, Founder and CEO of ScareScore. “We believe there is another incredibly valuable signal sitting right in front of us: what their bodies were doing while they experienced it.”
ScareScore was founded by technologist Chris Anastas with co-founder and horror film producer JP Ouellette, combining their backgrounds in technology, entertainment, film production, immersive theater attractions, and audience engagement.
Horror is the starting point, where audience reaction is immediate, visceral, and measurable. The platform is designed to extend to all genres and scale across entertainment experiences, including theatrically released films, streaming, theme parks, and immersive and location-based entertainment.
The company’s first public activations will begin during the 2026 Halloween season, including select film festival screenings and location-based experiences across North America. Participating audiences will be able to experience a movie or attraction as intended, then discover their personalized biometric score afterward.
ScareScore will also introduce Biometric Awards recognizing films and entertainment experiences based on real-time physiological signals that reveal the intensity of audiences’ psychological and emotional responses.
Additional film festivals, location-based entertainment and technology partners will be announced soon!
ABOUT SCARESCORE
Entertainment has always been designed to make us feel something. Until now, there has never been a universal way to measure whether it actually worked. ScareScore is the first consumer biometric reaction platform spanning movies, streaming, theme parks, and location-based entertainment. It synchronizes the smartphone and wearable devices people already own with movies, streaming content, theme park attractions, and adrenaline charged experiences, then measures how the body responds as every moment unfolds. Heart rate changes, movement, reaction intensity, and recovery are transformed into one personal, shareable ScareScore.
For audiences, every scream, spike, and flinch becomes identity, competition, and a place on the 1st Global Human Scoreboard. For studios, streamers, and experience creators, those same moments create an entirely new form of synchronized, time-coded audience intelligence, revealing how and when audiences respond, moment by moment, and providing unprecedented insight into the physical impact of entertainment as it unfolds.
ScareScore does not ask what people say they feel. It measures what their bodies actually did.
For more information about ScareScore, visit scarescore.com; follow @yourscarescore on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, X and YouTube, and download ScareScore in the App Store or your preferred app marketplace.
After more than a decade as a consultant in the entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his passion for horror. He takes immense pride in Daily Dead's talented team of writers, who passionately explore and celebrate horror as a respected art form capable of telling complex, character-driven stories with deep emotional and cultural impact.
Over the course of his career, Jonathan has written more than 10,000 articles and hosted panels at major conventions, including New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con. He is also consulted with as an expert on horror and pop culture, offering insights on horror history and the latest trends through media outlets, film festivals, and conventions.
After more than a decade as a consultant in the entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his passion for horror. He takes immense pride in Daily Dead's talented team of writers, who passionately explore and celebrate horror as a respected art form capable of telling complex, character-driven stories with deep emotional and cultural impact.
Over the course of his career, Jonathan has written more than 10,000 articles and hosted panels at major conventions, including New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic-Con. He is also consulted with as an expert on horror and pop culture, offering insights on horror history and the latest trends through media outlets, film festivals, and conventions.
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