A Bollywood director says his new horror movie is so terrifying he'll give $10,000 to whoever can watch it alone without getting scared. Anyone willing to take up the challenge will be hooked up to a heart monitoring machine, and filmed to insure that his or her eyes stay open.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters Life!) - Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has issued a lucrative challenge to horror movie fans: a $10,000 reward for anyone who can watch his latest supernatural thriller, alone, in a cinema until the closing credits.

Varma's "Phoonk 2", a sequel to his 2008 film of the same name, is about an evil spirit that traumatises a family.

"Anyone who says the movie cannot scare him is going to be put in a theatre by himself," Varma told reporters in Mumbai at an event to promote the movie.

Varma said the film fan who steps up to the challenge will be wired up to a heart monitoring machine as well as a camera that ensures they keep their eyes open during the whole movie.

Readings from the machines will be shown live on a screen outside the cinema, Varma said, and if the contestant succeeds, they will win 500,000 rupees (approximately $10,850).

Varma issued a similar challenge ahead of the release of the original "Phoonk" but the promotional contest was withdrawn after allegations the selection process was rigged.

Varma said the contest winner ran out 30 minutes after the film started, but newspaper reports said a film fan in the southern Indian city of Bangalore booked an entire cinema to prove the director wrong and watched the film alone with a doctor on call and security personnel stationed outside.