Ethan Hawke’s 109-Minute Horror Hit That Set A Major Genre Record Secures Massive Streaming Achievement

Though Ethan Hawke has earned three Oscar nominations for his acclaimed performances in the prestige dramas Training Day (2001), Boyhood (2014), and Blue Moon (2025), horror has delivered some of his biggest commercial hits, from The Purge (2013) to the Black Phone films (2021–2025), proving that scares can pay off in a big way.

Now, one of Ethan Hawke’s horror hits, Sinister, has secured a massive streaming achievement. The 2012 horror film stars Hawke as a true-crime author who uncovers a collection of disturbing snuff films in his new home depicting brutal murders and eerie supernatural occurrences. As he delves deeper into the terrifying mystery, his discoveries place his entire family in grave danger.

Ethan Hawke’s Sinister Can’t Be Stopped On Its Streaming Climb

Today, September 23, Sinister has officially hit 100 days in the Top 10 overall movies and TV shows on Lionsgate+ in the United Kingdom. It currently ranks No. 10, below Why Did I Get Married?, Limitless, Halloween II, Madea’s Family Reunion, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Halloween, Mary, and Blue Mountain State.

Lionsgate+ is also known as Starz in the United States, and though Sinister isn’t available there, it is streaming on Peacock, Hulu, Moviesphere, and for free on Plex.

The Film Set A Unique Horror Record

Though its Rotten Tomatoes scores (64%, 62%) and box office ($87.7 million) aren’t extraordinary, the film did set a unique record in 2020, when Sinister was named the scariest movie of all time, according to a scientific study that measured viewers’ heart rates.

The study, conducted by Broadband Choices, recruited 50 participants of varying ages and monitored their heart rates as they watched more than 100 hours of horror movies. Using the results, researchers compiled a ranking of the 35 films they considered the most frightening.

To measure each movie’s impact, participants wore heart-rate monitors that tracked how much their pulse climbed above its resting rate. While watching Sinister, viewers’ average heart rate jumped to 86 beats per minute, a 32% increase and the largest spike recorded in the study. If heart rate is the best measure, the numbers certainly make a compelling case for Sinister.