There's a difference between scares and startling. Most people want scares. I like both personally, but I can definitely appreciate those that really don't like being startled. It triggers some intense emotions and is a cheap trick most of the time.
this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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They can have a little jump scare, as a treat. But it better not be all you got.
There are good jump scares and cheap jump scares.
The facehugger shooting out of its egg would definitely be one of the good ones.
Personally, I'm partial to a slow burn horror movies. I don't mind jumpscares if they serve a purpose other than to startle you. For example in Hereditary, one of the jump scares is the mom driving alone in her car and she hears her dead daughter make her signature mouth click sound. That startles you, but also lets you know the daughter may not be gone. As opposed to a generic jumpscare like a cat jumping out of a window with a dramatic music sting.
My all-time favorite horror movie technique is a lingering camera after the dialogue and characters leave. Like even if they don't show anything it makes me uneasy. I don't know what that's called but it's so good if the director does it right.
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
Alfred Hitchcock
Hereditary was also so good at having scary, weird things in the background. Instead of having a music sting to accentuate them, it leaves it to the viewer to notice something creeping in the shadows and I find that more effective at building dread.
I once saw a horror movie that had scary, weird, subtle things in the foreground. For example, the main one I remember was early in the movie, when it was still keeping the viewer in suspense about whether anything supernatural was happening; in that scene the camera panned across an area and the silhouette of a ghost was right up front, but easy to miss. It's the only movie I can recall doing that; I was watching the movie with my then-girlfriend and she didn't even see it until I rewound to show her.
I can't remember the name of the movie, I'll have to ask my now-wife, but it was quite good.
edit: Actually managed to remember on my own. It was The Awakening.
I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House was really, really good at this… although, maybe, not much else.
The Last Will & Testament Of Rosalind Lee did it really well too.
The Murmuring is a really good slow burn horror piece.
Thanks for this, I don't think I've seen either of those. Gonna have to check them out.
You may like The Witch.
Oh yeah, The Witch was great. Period piece horror can be hit or miss, but that one hit it out of the park for me.
Jump scares aren't really meant to scare you, they're there to relieve tension. If a jump scare feels forced to you, then you weren't very engrossed in the movie, or it was put in a bad spot -- but if you're really on the edge of your seat and then a jump scare gets you, you'll relax afterward so the tension can start to mount all over again without feeling too oppressive.
If jump scares aren't doing that for you, then you've probably watched enough horror movies that you're slightly desensitized to it, but the director has to think of every movie goer when making a movie, and bringing new viewers keep the genre alive.
To use the comedy analogy from OP, it's more like a long winded joke that keeps going and going and building and building, and then suddenly PUNCH LINE! and you're laughing. Except the long winded joke is the tension building, and the jump scare is the punch line.
No, some people just straight up don't enjoy being negatively surprised.
I personally even dislike well done jumpscares, but it is made worse that in many horror flicks there isn't really a good buildup to them because they want to "get" you when you don't expect them.
To come back to comedy, people don't want the punchline of a joke to be something they loathe, they want to look forward to it.
People want to be scared, they don't want to be shocked or surprised (talking about people that don't like jumpscares, off course those who do also have every right to enjoy them).
Sure, it's totally fine to not like them. My point wasn't whether jump scares are good or bad, but just to explain why they're used in basically every horror movie ever. They're a good tool to help ease less experienced horror fans into the movie who would otherwise walk out or turn it off once the tension got to be too much for them.
Jump scares are a bit like added public laughs on sitcoms, if you need them to make it work then probably is mediocre…
But some of the best sitcoms have a laugh track. Red Dwarf, Blackadder, The IT Crowd, Seinfeld, to name a few.
Yeah, “probably” will have exceptions, but in general are easily abused resources IMHO
The main character faces away from the window, towards the camera. The scene outside is dimly lit, if at all.
I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
Sometimes they set up a perfect jump scare opportunity but don't use it, that's fun at least
They give a 10 minute monologue about the undying spirit of mankind.
You fall asleep.
Most films today are lazy, repetitive, trite, safe, and boring. Even if there is an original idea, the script is beaten into the same old existing shape. It's like seeing the same statue a million times with different colors.
drop the "today" and it's still a true statement
That's false, I think. This dude did the maths on "original" movies and their number as well as revenue has decreased drastically since 2005. I can't find the other source, but another dude did an analysis starting from the 70s and it looks even more bleak. So, at the moment, we are in the worst time for original movies.
I don't remember the jump scares in Sinister. I do remember it freaked me out though.
Yeah same. There was something particularly unnerving about that film.
Kids jumping out of boxes
I remember the kid folding out of the box the wrong way, not a jump scare. But it's been awhile.
They play suspenseful music, because he was watching the video where the family gets burned in their car in the previous scene. Then the kid screams and a loud sound is played, hence the "jump scare".
I walked home at about midnight after seeing in theaters on a barely lit Rhode Island street. so damn creepy LOL
This is a really good joke.
Tickle tickle
Some people like to be tickled and would even pay for it. No problem with that. Perhaps we need a new genre or subgenre name?
The Cable Guy is the scariest film I know.
I 100% agree. The most scared I have ever been watching a horror film in the theater was when I saw The Others. No jump scares, just building dread, knowing that something is going to happen that is going to scare me. My knuckles were white.
That is a wonderful movie, but there's at least one jump scare that I can recall (when the old lady opens the cabinet near the end) and it's been at least a decade since I saw it.
Agreed on every other point, though.
Side note: As I write this, my toddler is laying beside me and started breathing deeply, reminding me of the "stop breathing!" scene, which was fantastically done. I should watch that movie again.
I think you're right, but I'll forgive it the one jump scare.
I cannot agree with this more. The first time I realized I just didn't enjoy the adrenaline rush of a jump scare was watching I am Legend and after like the 5th jump scare I was worn out and upset about it.
I could take or leave jump scares if they aren't the whole thing, I just don't have great night vision so when a director thinks dark=scary I just end up watching a black screen with sfx and music, at least one of the home movies in Sinister and some of the later scenes was that I couldn't see any detail at all just a flat black screen. It was really disappointing after so much great tension building in the first half.
Not exactly a jump scare, it’s more of a drama trope; I hate the cliche of casual moments in a car and then they get t boned, sets me on edge in every car scene with dialog
My favorite is when you can see some shit happening in the background, usually blurry and out of focus.