Score breakdown
How Hereditary (2018) gets its score of9.5, one rule at a time.
1People's answers become a score for each kind of scare
Each person says how much of each kind of scare the film has, and a few yes/no questions nudge that up or down. Everyone's answers are averaged.
- Gore: 5.7 from 3 people
- Creepy: 8.0 from 3 people
- Jumpscares: 10.0 from 2 people
- Suspense: 6.5 from 2 people
- Psychological: 7.3 from 3 people
2Our estimate fills in until enough people rate it
Every kind of scare starts from Scare Scale's estimate, worked out from similar films. It counts as 2 people at first and less with each rating, until 10 people have rated and only their answers count.
- Gore: estimate 4.5 with people's 5.7 → 5.3
- Creepy: estimate 6.0 with people's 8.0 → 7.4
- Jumpscares: estimate 4.0 with people's 10.0 → 7.3
- Suspense: estimate 5.1 with people's 6.5 → 5.9
- Psychological: estimate 4.5 with people's 7.3 → 6.4
3Scare weighting, then the top three are averaged
Scare weighting compares each kind of scare with other films, lifting what's stronger than usual and lowering what's weaker. The film's score is the average of its three highest.
Kind of scare Rated Scare weighting Score Jumpscares (in the top 3) 7.3 +2.6 9.9 Creepy (in the top 3) 7.4 +2.3 9.7 Psychological (in the top 3) 6.4 +2.6 9.0 Suspense 5.9 +1.6 7.5 Gore 5.3 +1.4 6.7 The highlighted top 3 make up the score:
(9.9 + 9.7 + 9.0) ÷ 3 = 9.5
How scare weighting is worked out
Each kind of scare is compared with every rated film on Scare Scale. The rating that 70% of films come in under becomes a 5, so a 5 means about as strong as most films.
Ratings above that are stretched up towards 10, and ratings below it are pulled down twice as fast towards 0, so only the very strongest films get near 10. The stretch depends on how spread out films are: where most films get similar ratings, small differences count for more.
It's worked out again from the latest ratings whenever the site loads its films, so a film's score can shift a little as other films are rated. Right now:
Kind of scare Becomes 5 at Near 10 from Near 0 below Gore 4.6 7.6 3.1 Creepy 5.2 7.1 4.3 Jumpscares 3.9 6.1 2.8 Suspense 5.3 6.9 4.5 Psychological 4.5 7.1 3.2
All ratings (3)
Anonymous
22 Oct 2026
Gore 3 · Creepy 3 · Psychological 3
Their answers
- Gore
- How much gore was there? A little (3)
- Creepy
- How creepy was it? A little (3)
- Was it just goofy instead of actually frightening? No
- Psychological
- How much did it mess with your head? A bit (3)
- Did it stay on your mind afterwards? No
Adam
17 Oct 2026
Gore 4 · Creepy 10 · Jumpscares 10 · Suspense 3 · Psychological 9
Their answers
- Gore
- How much gore was there? A little (3)
- Did the camera focus or linger on the gore? Yes (+1)
- Creepy
- How creepy was it? Very (9)
- Did you feel unsettled throughout the whole film? Yes (+1)
- Jumpscares
- How many jumpscares were there? Lots (9)
- Were there any massive scares that totally caught you off guard? Yes (+1)
- Suspense
- How tense was it? A bit (3)
- Did it feel like nothing was happening for long periods of time? No
- Psychological
- How much did it mess with your head? A lot (9)
- Was it a simple, straightforward story? No
gruselhurz
3 Oct 2026
Gore 9 · Creepy 10 · Jumpscares 10 · Suspense 10 · Psychological 10
Their answers
- Gore
- Rating before the scare questions 9 out of 10
- Creepy
- Rating before the scare questions 10 out of 10
- Jumpscares
- Rating before the scare questions 10 out of 10
- Suspense
- Rating before the scare questions 10 out of 10
- Psychological
- Rating before the scare questions 10 out of 10