Head-to-head: the comparison that ranks films on Gasper
Head-to-headnoun
A head-to-head is a two-film question on Gasper, which was scarier, whose answers place a film in your rankings.
A head-to-head is the unit of ranking on Gasper. Two posters, one question, one tap. It replaces the moment in other apps where you stare at a row of stars and guess.
How it works
When you rank a film, Gasper first asks "How scary was it?": Terrifying, Some scares, or Barely flinched. That decides which of your films the new one is compared against and the range its score can land in, so a film that terrified you never ends up below one you barely flinched at. Then the head-to-heads start. The new film appears beside one you already ranked and gave the same answer, and the app asks a single question: "Which was scarier?" Tap a poster, or drag toward the scarier one. There is an undo if your thumb slipped.
Each answer narrows the range where the film can sit in your rankings. Say the film is scarier than the one in the middle of that range: the bottom half is ruled out, and the next comparison comes from the top half. A handful of answers usually settles it, even with a long list. The film lands, and its scare score is read from where it landed.
Why comparisons beat numbers
People are bad at absolute judgments and good at relative ones. "How scary was Barbarian (2022), out of ten?" is a hard question with an unstable answer. "Was Barbarian scarier than Smile (2022)?" is easy, and the answer tends to stay the same next week. Pairwise ranking has been used for everything from chess ratings to wine tastings for exactly this reason. Gasper applies it to the one question horror fans argue about most.
The method also has a useful side effect: every head-to-head is a tiny memory test. You end up thinking about films you ranked months ago, which is half the pleasure of keeping a list at all.
In Gasper
Head-to-heads are private to you while you answer them. What leaves your phone is the result, a position and a scare score, and that score joins the Community Scare for that film only as an anonymous aggregate. You can re-rank any film later and the new head-to-heads move it. Nothing else, not tags, not the heart, not the number of friends who ranked the same film, changes where a film sits. Only your answers do.
Questions people ask
How many head-to-heads does ranking one film take?
Usually a handful. The film is only compared against films you gave the same answer, and each head-to-head narrows where it can land, so even a long list settles quickly.
What if I cannot decide between two films?
Pick the one that edges it. The answer you gave to How scary was it? already keeps the film in the right range, so a close call only moves it a little.
Can I redo a head-to-head I got wrong?
Re-rank the film: tap Ranked on its page and choose Re-rank head-to-head. You get a fresh run of comparisons and the film moves to its new spot.
Go deeper
- FeatureHead-to-head rankingAnswer which film was scarier a few times and Gasper places it in your rankings. You never type a number.
- GuideHow the scare score Works: From Head-to-Heads to a NumberThe scare score explained: the scare verdict, which-was-scarier head-to-heads, binary insertion, calibration, re-ranking and how it differs from the heart
Related terms
- LovedLoved is the heart you give a film on Gasper, marking it as loved on your profile regardless of its scare score.
- Scare scoreA scare score is Gasper's measure out of 10 of how scary a film was to you, set by head-to-head comparisons rather than a number you type.
- Your rankingsYour rankings are the ordered list of every horror film you have ranked on Gasper, built from head-to-heads rather than typed scores.
- BloodworkBloodwork is Gasper's tap-through story of everything you have ranked: tolerance, scariest watch, hours, dominant fear, streak, Hottest Take, Deepest Cut and fear twin.
Rank what scared you.
Free on the App Store. Log a film tonight, answer which was scarier, and watch your rankings take shape.
