The Most Stressful Movies to Watch 

What makes for the most stressful movies ever? Imagine that a total psychopath has wired a Los Angeles city bus to explode if the speedometer drops below 50 MPH. Now imagine that the bus driver is not a bus driver at all, but just an inexperienced passenger pressed into duty. Speed may be just a popcorn flick, but the taut thriller is so well-paced and exhilarating, that it’s one of the most stressful films to watch unfold. Don’t think Speed is all that agita-inducing, there’s more where that came from. Here are the most stressful movies ever.

Suspenseful movies are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. Most filmmakers want to do everything possible to hook an audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. But is there anything quite like a film that is so stressful that it causes your heart to beat fast enough that it actually causes panic and sweat?

Some of the suspenseful films on this list are from the horror genre - a category of movies that is specifically designed to make a spectator jump from their seat and become so petrified of the monster, that they have to cover their eyes.

Of course, several of these movies are actual suspense films. A genre of film rooted entirely upon the premise of making a spectator feel anxious and uncertain, because they don’t know what is about to happen, and there’s nothing that they can do to help. What’s in the box that John Doe has sent to Detective Mills (Seven)? What do the scary ghosts want with Cole (The Sixth Sense)? Will the undercover cop be discovered and killed by the brutal Irish Gang (The Departed)?

But suspense comes in all genres (you've seen The Polar Express, right?). It’s often the root of drama and provides white-knuckle conflict within the story. Who knows for sure why, but there’s a piece in all of us that feels pleasure when we watch unpredictable, nerve-wracking movies.