Top 10: Jump Scares

Jump scenes are incredibly effective when they land. To make an audience jump at something that is not real or even happening in the same space as them is quite difficult when you think about it. But when jump scenes happen the results can either range from laughter at having been 'got' or adding to the dread or terror on display. I unashamedly let myself get into these types of films and never try and control any shocks I might get throughout; the film is far more fun that way and diluting any effect it is having on you would only take away from it. As a result I am very hardened against them and can spot them a mile off. My choices here were picked based on just how original and effective they were; I certainly was not expecting anything to happen that would make me jump five feet in the air as some of the scenes here have, and yet doing so only added to my enjoyment of proceedings. Also, the dreaded 'fake-scare' will not be present among any of my selections. If there is anything more annoying than the endless cliches of cats jumping out at our heroes then its the figure suddenly appearing behind our characters in a mirror, behind a closed fridge door and most annoyingly, our heroes own friends suddenly grabbing their shoulder. The more unexpected the jump is, the more effective it will be. So in no order, here are my own favourite jump scenes of all time. Needless to say that if you have not seen any of the films in question, their respective scares will hardly work out of context. Spoilers follow.



"The Exorcist III"
A very underrated horror film, most people don't seem to know that while it's first sequel was uniformly terrible, the second almost beat the classic original when it came to the scares. The sheer beauty of this seen is director William Peter Blatty's framing of his hallway. It's first jump, just before that seen here, while a fake-scare, nontheless sets the audience up even further for when the true unexpected threat is suddenly revealed.




"The Eye"
For a few years at the start of the 2000's, it seemed that the only place in the world that knew how to do horror right, was Asia. The first time I saw "The Eye" it was this short moment here that made my blood run cold. While there are creepier moments in the film (that lift scene) this is the moment that will have most clutching at their arm rests. The suddenness mixed with the sheer unnaturalness of the ghost all add to the scare factor.




"The Descent"
OK, so nowadays it has become the norm to use night vision when you want something to be scary. But back in 2005 it was less overused, hence me losing all bowel control when I first saw this scene. Director Neil Marshall effectively and effortlessly spends the first half of the film with the characters, building up tension in the group and in their terrifying situation. There have been glimpses of something always on the edge of frame throughout, but it is in this scene that we finally see what is stalking our heroines in their underground maze. The scene in question begins at 1:10.

"The Descent" Crawlers First Appearance


"Don't Look Now"
For most of Nicholas Roeg's atmospheric exercise in restraint, we have been mostly following recently bereaved parents Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as they escape to Venice to deal with their childs untimely death. A haunting study of grief follows that relies more on atmospherics than all out shocks to unnerve its audience. That is until the end of the film that features something as unexpected as it is hideous, when Sutherland mistakes what he thinks is the ghost of his daughter, as something altogether more vicious.




"The Devil's Backbone"
Featuring one of the best screen ghosts in recent years, this haunting Guillermo Del Toro directed chiller is one of the classiest horrors ever. The scares take place at an orphanage for children during the Spanish Civil War in 1939. When the kids face a possible threat from a recently missing and presumed dead fellow student, it sets off a chain reaction of events that leads to unforseen and tragic conclusions. Del Toro shows us his ghost almost straight away, so the fact that he continues to make it as scary as it is for the entire running time, is a tribute to his film making. The first time we see the ghost Santi happens near the start, as two of the boys go to fetch water after hours as an initiation test. The scene occurs at 4:55.




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Sticking with Spanish horror, this 2007 chiller breathed new life into the zombie sub-genre. It's found footage format does a great service to the story in putting the audience front and center of the terror. In a sense it is a true roller coaster ride of horror. The whole climax of the film features scare after scare, until that genuinely unnerving attic scene. With only two characters left surviving they must look for any way out.



"Suspiria"
Dario Argento's influential supernatural slasher film begins as it means to go. Wasting no time, we are introduced to surreal and hypnotically violent moments of terror. It's elaborate first death scenes only truly work after the shock of that anonymous hand impossibly crashing through the window, many stories off the ground to claim its victims.




"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
What really gets me about this film, is the fact that despite its reputation, it features very little blood or gore. Here is it's first major death scene and reveal of the great 'Leatherface'. What always got me however, was that after the initial shock of Kirk's murder hits, it lands a sickly feeling seeing his dead body squirm and convulse like a stuck pig. When Leatherface loudly slums shut a heavy metal door, you see it was actually the entrance to his kitchen, where he prepares his other victims for supper later, which gives the biggest shock.




"Carrie"
After the stunning bloodbath of the high school massacre sequence we assume Carrie is dead. The only survivor of the night goes to visit the rubble of Carrie's old house. In other words, that ending. In a nice bit of trivia, actress Sissy Spacek actually buried herself underneath that rubble so the hand would indeed belong to her, and not a stunt double as director Brian DePalma originally wanted.





"Jaws"
The beauty of this scene, is Spielberg's timing is so incredibly perfect, that it will get you nearly every time. Upon viewing an initial cut, Spielberg felt his film needed another shock and so shot that scene of Ben Gardners head in his own swimming pool at home. Quite possibly, the best jump in cinema history.

"Jaws" Ben Gardner's Boat