A Bollywood filmmaker has offered $11,000 to anyone who can sit through his latest horror film, Phoonk 2 – alone in a theatre, with eyes open the entire time and while maintaining an even heart rate.

Reuters says Ram Gopal Varma issues the challenge at a Mumbai event to promote the film, which hits Indian theatres April 9.

Phoonk 2, a sequel to the 2008 low-budget hit, Phoonk, is about an evil spirit that traumatizes a family.

Varma said, “Anyone who says the movie cannot scare him is going to be put in a theatre by himself.” The individual, who will be chosen through an online contest, will be hooked up to a heart monitor and a camera will be set up to ensure his (or her, we presume, though Varma seems to assume the winner will be male) eyes remain open.

According to NDTV, a doctor and ambulance will be on stand by.

If successful, the contestant will win 500,000 rupees (approximately $11,000).

Varma is not the first horror director to employ this sort of gimmick. William Castle, famed filmmaker of the 1950s and 60s was well known for his gambits. Among them: a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd’s of London was given to each moviegoer, in case he/she should die of fright during Macabre (1958). Showings also had fake nurses stationed in the lobbies and hearses parked outside the theatre.

And Homicidal (1961) contained a “Fright break” with a 45 second timer over the film’s climax, while a voiceover advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder — but you had to go to “coward’s corner” for your money back.

Reuters says Varma issued a similar challenge ahead of the release of the original Phoonk and claimed that the contest winner ran out 30 minutes after the film started. However, newspapers reported that someone Bangalore booked an entire cinema and watched the film alone, to prove the director wrong.