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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
They give a 10 minute monologue about the undying spirit of mankind.
You fall asleep.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
