Jump Scares

[Oasis]

I think they're funny myself and I take it lightheartedly like "ha, can't believe I fell for that one!" but I know that others are bothered by them, so I don't support them.

[Nine]

I enjoy them when they're done right. Throwing stuff in your face just to get a response is only triggering reflexive instincts, not really fright, so you've got to do it with style to make it truly effective. Dead Space does it right, imo. And even though it's very much overhyped at the moment, Five Nights at Freddy's was on the right track.

 

Jump scares using audio and musical cues are some of my favorites (edit: not screamers). Or 'false' jump scares, where music swells and you're totally expecting something to pop out... but nothing comes, so you're stuck in this suspense-driven "when is it gonna happen" moment. That's delving into atmospheric details, though.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Nine

[LikeTwoPancakes]

I agree with Nine, jump scares are good when done right. I think Outlast does a good job with it. A good example of how not to do jump scares is most G-mod horror maps.

[7Deadly$ins]

I agree with Nine, jump scares are good when done right. I think Outlast does a good job with it. A good example of how not to do jump scares is most G-mod horror maps.

Outlast was pretty much 100% jump scares. They need to be mixed in a little more than that. Outlast also struggled a little with letting the tension DECREASE. That downtime is actually pretty important to maintaining a horror atmosphere but Outlast was too reluctant to do it really ever.

[edwardelricfreak]

Outlast wasn't ALL jumpscares. I thought what it had was fine. I do agree about the tension, though; it was always a situation of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" at every transition. If they had had more down time I think their jumpscares AND tense moments would have been more effective.

 

I think Five Nights At Freddy's is the only thing that can get away with what it did.

 

On another note, I actually like the jumpscares in SCP: Containment Breach. For the most part, SCP-173 is the brunt of the jumpscares, though there are two other minor SCPs that really are only briefly seen and don't have any sound. However, for all three of them, their jumpscare nature *fits* their theme so I have no problem with them.

 

Most games involving the Slenderman are also fitting with jumpscares since it fits Slendy's nature, though the games have been way overdone by now and unfortunately lost a lot of their effect because of it.

 

I hate jumpscares for the sake of jumpscares. So long as they're fitting and not just a random image/thing popping up and (sometimes) having a loud noise, I don't mind them.

[avoralei]

i like them when im wtahcing horror movies or playing horror games but like when im walking around and my dad suddenly yells boo then im just like >.>

[DustyBelle]

People who make and perpetuate jump scares should be subjected to something they find just as aweful. I spook easily and always. People delight in making me jump and I never fail to provide the jump/squawk or whatever denoting my spooked state.

 

I strive to never hit links where I could be spooked, but if one ever clicks on links it will eventually happen. I don't like Horror flicks or other videos meant to scare or frighten people. It is bad enough when kids spook each other, but adults should know better and refrain from such antics..

 

Growls at people who go out of their way to spook her and others.

[Starscream]

I get jump scared most easily.. husband walking in the door, I fly out of my chair and hang off the ceiling fan.... exaggeration but I scare easily.

 

But that doesn't stop me... from nefarious acts of scaring. (I expect a good fright in return)

 

So scare #1:

 

I would generally spook my manager as she came in the door of where I used to work. BLARGH! I would say. Only this time it wasn't her... it was the business owner... I nearly gave the man a heart attack. Poor guy. I apologised so much that day.

 

Scare #2:

 

I got the manager good...too good...quite possibly the best scare I ever did. Hallowe'en and I was not opening the shop that day, my manager was. I was entering at noon. But I wanted to give her a little spook. So I am in a gargoyle costume.

 

I turn the hallowe'en lights on and the back room lights off. I waited in the shadows until she arrived. DAMN I left my key in the door, but this distracted her a bit. the door open.. BLARGH! she backed off as this gargoyle leaps out at her, and bursts into tears. I felt so bad it scared her that much. Good thing we were friends.

 

Scare #3+:

 

Target: my husband. I have a fairly good fix on when he gets home. so I wait in the garbage room. I watch carefully so I don't scare some of the other tenants, I wait until he walks by oblivious, follow him down the hall with a loud BLARGH! Of course he did manage to get me back a few times when my thoughts were elsewhere.

 

So yeah, people get me good from time to time. But I can also get them good.

 

[Switch]

yeah jumpscares in video games can be done well they're just not my thing

[MedievalMystic]

What in the world is a jumpscare? O_o

[Mew_1]

What in the world is a jumpscare? O_o

Basically when you startle someone and they have a visible reaction...usually people say it looks like they "jump".

[MedievalMystic]

Ah, ok. Thanks Mew.

[Fortis]

Now, I'm not really a fan of horror games myself, but I've watched a few lets plays of them. In my opinion, Jumpscares must be used with moderation. And in proper context. Otherwise, they just come off as the programmer being a jerk and a troll.

 

A bad example is this one Amnesia mod I watched on youtube. It had this guy reading a suitably creepy message in a dark house, when suddenly ZOMBIE-IN-YOUR-FACE-OUT-OF-NOWHERE!! Literally. It just appeared right in front of the player out of thin air, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of it's hat. No buildup, no context, no foreshadowing, just a jarring record scratch eliciting reflex.

 

Now, others mentioned Five Nights at Freddy's. That game, I think, did them properly. The jump scares there flow properly from the story. For those you haven't played it, it's about a night guard at a cheap pizza place, where the animatronics are possessed or something, and begin roaming around. If they catch you, they eat you. Thing is, you're in a single room, with only the security cameras and a couple of armored doors at your disposal, and only a very finite amount of power to use them. You have to use the cameras to keep track of the animatronics, and close the doors when they're near by. The fear in that game actually comes from a feeling of hopelessness and vulnerability, as you have to conserve power by leaving the doors open, only closing them when Freddy and co draw near. In this situation, the jump scare is a culmination of the buildup in the game. If you screw up, you know you're doomed, and the jump scare is merely answering when, specifically 'right now'. A word of advice, don't play or watch youtubes of it late at night. Not to proud to admit I made this mistake, and had a nightmare later.

 

Anyway, TLDR: They need context and buildup. Throwing jump scares out of the blue is just trolling and a cheap way of eliciting reactions.

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

Jump scares in horror movies are like toppings on steaks: in the hands of an amateur who doesn't understand the craft it ruins the whole thing, but a talented person can use them to enhance and elevate the 'flavor' of the movie. I haven't gotten much sleep, so that sounded better in my head...

 

There's a difference between being startled and being truly afraid. Jump scares work best and are truly frightening when framed within an already tense, effective atmosphere and/or story. If you don't have that suspense building up, that sense of dread, then the only thing you're likely to do to your audience with a jump scare is to startle them. But those delicious moments of silence and stillness and anticipation before a great jump scare where you're going "oh god oh god something's gonna happen but where and when" and then it happens and it manages to take you by surprise, and the following scene uses that adrenaline to make you stay in that heightened sense of awareness to make you afraid... ahh. Those are the kinds of jump scares I look for in a movie.

 

All my favorite jump scares are found in horror video games. Amnesia in particular has some truly great ones. Because the level of immersion is greater in a game than in movie and you're put in a position where you have to defend yourself or run in realtime, the fear tends to feel much more immediate and dangerous.

 

Instilling fear in another person really is an art. So many people who create horror fiction fail to understand this. Even more important than instilling fear is knowing how to MAINTAIN it. This is why I hate the Paranormal Activity series in particular, because sure you're bound to react to a few of the initial moments, but the formula of the scares becomes predictable so soon and there is so little else going on in the movies that boredom and weariness set in. When you're 10 minutes in and you know not only where a movie is going but how it's going to get there, what's the point. I also HATE when the score gives away a scare before it happens.

 

/horror snob mode off (like I can ever really turn it off...)

[Starscream]

I found signs particularly frightening because you never really saw the aliens clear enough. When you did, it was frightening. To have an in your face scary creature is not as scary as that creature you get glimpses of then suddenly BAM there it is!

[MedievalMystic]

Talk about a jumpscare. lol I think this qualifies.

 

--->Click me!

 

Why isn't there ever anything cool like this is my town?

Edited October 17, 2014 by MedievalMystic

[edwardelricfreak]

I think in New York? a while back they actually had something similar. They dressed up a bunch of people as walkers (zombies from Walking Dead) and had them in the sewers or something and they'd reach up through grates and such and scare people.

[MedievalMystic]

I think in New York? a while back they actually had something similar. They dressed up a bunch of people as walkers (zombies from Walking Dead) and had them in the sewers or something and they'd reach up through grates and such and scare people.

 

I love it!