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We all know that going to the cinema usually involves a selection of popcorn, sweets, hotdogs and nachos, or any combination of the above, so you wouldn’t usually think of an outing to the cinema as one of the healthiest of activities.

However, new research indicates that it may not be as unhealthy as you think, especially if you opt to watch a tense horror movie. Research carried out on behalf of Lovefilm by the University of Westminster has shown that moviegoers can burn over 100 calories while watching scary films.

And those movies that make you jump out of your seat with fright regularly burn even more calories. The researchers studied people’s heart rates, consumption of oxygen and carbon dioxide output during the time they watched ten different horror films, and the one that used up the most calories was Stanley Kubrick’s classic The Shining (184 calories). In second place was Jaws (161 calories) and in third place was The Exorcist (158 calories).

Paranormal Activity burnt 111 calories; good news for anyone who wants to go and see the latest in the series – Paranormal Activity 4 – which is currently featuring on the Edinburgh Cinema Listings and in other towns across the UK.

Paranormal Activity 4 is the sequel to the story in Paranormal Activity 2. In fact PA4 opens with the ending of PA2, with Katie killing her sister Krista and disappearing with baby Hunter. The story then moves on five years and focuses on the strange events that start affecting a family in suburbia when a woman and her strange young child move into the neighbourhood.

This time the main characters are siblings Alex and Wyatt, Alex’s boyfriend Ben, and the new little boy in town, Robbie, who spends all his time with Wyatt and around whom strange happenings seem to take place.

Paranormal Activity 4 promises enough frightening moments to at least equal out the extra calories you’re going to consume in snacks while you watch it!