The 10 most terrifying jump scares in the history of horror
Ah, yes, the jump scare, the bread and butter of any horror movie worth its salt. One moment, the tension of proceedings seems to have simmered down into a welcome sense of peace and respite and then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, comes an abrupt flash of image or sound to scare the living daylights out of the audience once again.
Now, the jump scare is often criticised as being something of a throwaway trope within the horror genre and sometimes perceived as a lazy way of scaring an audience, rather than the work of a given director coming up with genuinely inventive ways of instilling the kind of fear into viewers that makes them keep the lights on when they go to bed at night.
But through the course of time, there have indeed been several instances where a jump scare was well thought out, or it was so original in its approach that they ought to be given their due respect as essential pieces of spooky movie history.
With the year nearing the spookiest day of the year, what better time to revisit the best-ever jump scares from the rich history of cinema past? So, from classic horror to surrealist drama, find something to hold on tight to.
The 10 best jump scares:
10. Barn Brawl – Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009)
The American horror aficionado Sam Raimi is well known for his Evil Dead trilogy, but those who haven’t delved deeper into the director’s filmography are severely missing out. His 2009 film Drag Me to Hell is arguably his very best movie, telling the story of a loan officer who evicts a woman from her home and finds herself the victim of a supernatural force as a result.
Starring the likes of Alison Lohman, Justin Long and Lorna Raver, the film is the perfect balance between horror and Raimi’s unique take on comedy, with this playing out with joyous execution when the villain surprises the protagonist in a barn and a bonkers fight ensues.
9. The Last Laugh – Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen King, the Brian De Palma classic Carrie is an iconic coming-of-age tale that follows an unpopular girl who is made prom queen in a cruel prank. Yet, the titular character is no ordinary girl, being armed with powers that she uses to kill her tormentors and dismantle the prison of school and religion that has long restricted her.
Despite her liberation, Carrie is ultimately slain, but this doesn’t stop her from having the last laugh, tormenting the dreams of Sue, a sympathetic character who doesn’t do enough to stop the protagonist’s victimisation. In a dream, Sue goes to Carrie’s grave to pay her respects, only for the protagonist’s bloody arm to grab her from the soil. It’s a classic 1970s horror flourish.
8. The Boy in the Attic – [REC] (Paco Plaza, Jaume Balagueró, 2007)
Make no mistake, even in the age of ‘elevated horror’, Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró’s 2007 movie [REC] remains one of the greatest genre flicks of the 21st century. Telling the story of a news reporter who ventures into an apartment block with a group of firefighters after reports of a disturbance, the movie turns into a living hell when infected ghouls begin to walk the staircase.
Utterly horrifying and unbearably tense, the Spanish film, which stars Manuela Velasco and Jorge-Yamam Serrano, leads to a finale that promises untainted terror. Exploring the attic of the vast apartment, the reporter pans her camcorder around through the dark, only for a small boy to scream into the lens. It might be a cheap scare, but it is thoroughly well executed.
7. Arrival of the creatures – The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
Speaking of iconic 21st-century horror flicks, it would be impossible to speak about the best of the modern genre without mentioning Neil Marshall’s claustrophobic nightmare, The Descent. One of Britain’s very best horror movies, Marshall’s ingenious flick follows the adventure of a group of best friends who decide to go caving in an undiscovered network in North Carolina.
If the claustrophobia of the agonising caving sequences isn’t bad enough (it really is), things get worse for the characters upon the arrival of a group of malevolent creatures hiding in the pitch-black darkness of the caves. Although they can be seen in the background of several shots, their explosive official arrival gives audiences one of the most well-earned jump scares of all time.
6. The Tall Man – It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014)
American filmmaker David Robert Mitchell upends everything we know about the classic jump scare in the indie horror It Follows, announcing the arrival of the monster with almost no loud bang at all. The moment comes in the 2014 flick when Maika Monroe’s Jay escapes to her friend’s house, fearing that she’s being silently followed by a malevolent force that’s invisible to others.
Doubting Jay, even ourselves, all suspicion goes out the window when we finally see her tormentor, who takes the form of several different entities. In this scene, however, after the tension has been aptly cranked, we are introduced to a tall spectre who’s stepped straight out of the ‘uncanny valley’ and into the realms of the living. It’s a terrifying, unforgettable moment.
5. Hospital sequence – The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty, 1990)
William Friedkin’s 1973 horror film The Exorcist has gone down in the annals of horror film history, but it’s fair to say that there’s less notoriety about its 1990 sequel The Exorcist III, which focuses on Lieutenant William F. Kinderman from the original movie. However, when talking jump scares, one should definitely look to the William Peter Blatty-directed work for one of the greatest of all time.
The scene at the nurse station is one of true terror, which begins in near silence, save for the footsteps of a night-shift nurse. She unlocks a door, turns the light on and walks in as the door creaks on its hinge, amplifying the thickness of the silence. As the nurse comes back out, closes and locks the door, we think all is well, but suddenly, the film’s demonic antagonist, The Gemini Killer, comes out of the room and beheads the poor nurse. There’s then a beautiful match cut with a headless statue per the uniquely brilliant vision of Blatty.
4. The stair sequence – Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
Widely considered one of the most influential horror movies of all time, it’s no surprise to see Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho on this list. There are so many iconic moments within the movie, but one of the most alluring (and frightening) is the stair sequence in which the tension is ramped right the way up by Bernard Herrmann’s excellent score.
In fact, the jump scare is all in the sound here. As the private investigator Arbogast climbs the home of Norman Bates in search of his mother, a strange figure suddenly emerges from the bedroom and stabs him to death. It’s definitely a startling moment, but it’s all caused by the sharp scrapes on the strings, a motif that Hitchcock employs to excellent use throughout his classic horror movie.
3. Chest defibrillator – The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
John Carpenter’s The Thing is an absolute masterclass in cinematic paranoid tension; no one in the Antarctic research station trusts one another as the titular extra-terrestrial shapeshifter stalks the crew, as the audience also begins to doubt who’s real and who’s an imitation. One of the most memorable moments of many is when one of the crew, Norris, has a heart attack, and the rest of the group tries to revive him with a defibrillator.
Things are already tense, and as Copper gets the all-clear, we discover that – oh my god – Norris has been an imitation all this time. His chest opens up to reveal his insides; Copper plunges his hands deep into the newly-opened cavity and screams as he rips his arms away, hands chewed off. It’s a somewhat cheesy scene, typical of a Carpenter movie, but the first moment you see that chest bare-all is not one that you can forget in a hurry.
2. Underwater corpse – Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
This one had to crop up here somewhere, and Steven Spielberg’s ultra-iconic aquatic terror-inducing Jaws almost made its way right to the top of the pile. There’s something about Hooper being down under the ocean that makes this scene, in which he discovers the boat of Ben Gardner, so damn well unsettling.
John Williams’ excellently tense score certainly plays its part here, and the bubble of Hooper’s scuba suit almost gives a sense of peace and calmness to the affair. But as he approaches the hole in the boat, a greyed and long-dead head floats out of it, matched with the high-pitched scream of Hooper. If that weren’t bad enough to make you jump out of your seat, then Spielberg gives out a second helping where we see the corpse’s eye has also popped out. An absolute classic.
1. The man behind the diner – Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
For the number one jump scare of all time, look no further than the 2001 David Lynch surrealist neo-noir mystery Mulholland Drive. The scene in question sees a man recount a nightmare he had which took place outside a diner, and Lynch portrays the bad dream in a sequence dripping in his usual surrealistic style.
Two men approach the corner of a building, and the crazy thing here is that you know something’s up, just from the tense, almost industrial score alone. But nothing quite prepares you for what in God’s holy name slides out of that corner. Is it a half-human, half-animal? A man covered entirely in excrement? Whatever the hell it is, it’s only on-screen for about two seconds, but that’s all that’s needed. The man faints, and the viewer themselves feel faint. Perhaps it’s the timing of this jump scare that makes it the best of the lot.
