I think one thing missing from the formula is relevance to the viewer. Different people are more terrified of different things, and so the scariest horror movie will be the one that plays on a particular viewer's personal fears.

After Jaws, how many people stopped swimming at the beach? Lots.

After Halloween, how many people stopped going Trick or Treating? Lots (arguably related).

This is one of the things that I think makes The Shining less scary for me. How often is a person trapped in a haunted hotel in the off season as the wife of the caretaker? I was concerned about the woman getting out, but it didn't change my behavior in the least.

Bailish, that comment suggests you have a higher M.I.Q. (Movie Intelligence Quota) than the esteemed academics who concocted this formula. Of course, you are right. Granted Psycho is probably more of a thriller than horror movie, but to this day, I still have moments where when I'm taking a shower I recall that famous scene and get a chill. Even with a movie like Alien -- how many of us have been trapped on a spaceship with a deadly alien -- there is a point of psychological identification with the crew as they continually have to edge down dark corridors, not knowing what to expect, a fear we can share in our own lives, dreams, nightmares.

"Researchers spent two weeks watching horror films"

For 'researchers' think 'frat boys' and for 'research grant' think 'beer money.' Makes sense now, right?

To me, the scary thing about the Shining was not "will they escape the Psycho-killer," but the way an ordinary man (with a dark side) could be inexorably attracted to the place/circumstance that was his undoing, and the way someone you rely on and care for could become a terrible threat. That and coming around the corner and seeing some scary-ass shit, the intrusion of horrifying thoughts into the consciousness.

I'd say it affected me much more profoundly than Jaws (which didn't scare me,) or Halloween (which scared me, but not in a way that captured my imagination and gave me nightmares.

Since "escalating music" and "sense of being trapped" and so on are not measurable values the formula is of course not something to take seriously. Especially not since "sin" is stated to be "blood and guts" and not the mathematic sine function.

But if you think of every value as a something measureable between 1 and 10:
You add escalating music, unknown, chase scenes and the sense of being trapped. This sum you multiply with itself (squared). This will be a big number.

Then you add shock.

Then you add true life with fantasy and divide the sum with two.

Then add character being alone with how dark the film is and the film setting and divid this sum the number of people. =The less people, the scarier movie.

Finaly is sin x-1 which in this description makes no sence, but if it was x that was blood and guts, sin x would make value less than one unless x is 90. So, sin x -1 is negative or zero.

The sum of it all would be that you should put your budget on escalating music, unknown, chase scenes and the sense of being trapped and if blood and guts is not done precisely right, it will bring negative values to the movie. Real life and fantasy should be balanced, or the smaller will take out the bigger. And keep the number of characters to the minimum.

Laura, I think you've got something there. While the physical scenario may not be relatable, the psychological process might still be possible in our own lives. Hence, The Shining would have a higher relevance than I gave it credit.

Also, I think it depends on a viewer's age at the time of viewing. I'm more likely to be scared as a mid-teen than in my mid-thirties.

@Laura: What you're describing is what I call the psychological journey of a story. I expect that's pretty much what the academics were attempting to nail down with their formula. Not sure if it's knowable in that manner. But it is certainly a critical component of any effective story a writer writes.

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