Jumpscares Are The New Classic Horror Film Tactic
The following movies are...a jumpscare extravaganza!
A video was shared online in the mid-2000s that showed a car heading down a road with many twists and turns. You stared at the car and listened to the soft music playing, when suddenly a grotesque zombie face came out of the corner of the screen and let out a scream.
This was a commercial for the German coffee brand K-fee and was used to act out the effects of drinking their coffee (it’ll give you a “jump” start!). “The video was one of the first screamers to be uploaded on the internet” and is an example of how jumpscares are becoming built into the horror genre of media. We will be focusing in on jumpscares in film, however, not advertisements.
Jumpscares have become a horror movie staple as of the late 1970s. When the slasher film genre started gaining popularity, it became a common occurrence to have the villain pop out of nowhere (accompanied by a sudden increase of volume in the music) to startle the viewer in their seats. Thus, the jumpscare was born.
Jumpscares are a combination of “...tension, cinematic sleight-of-hand, and score…” that delivers a shock to viewer so intense that it makes them jump in their seat. The director needs to create an ideal environment. Too much tension building before the jump will cause the audience to prepare for the scare and it won't be as effective. A delicate touch is needed when creating the jumpscare scene to give the audience a clue of what is about to happen without giving away the when and where. When the music doesn't fit the swelling tension in the scene, the audience’s mood can be changed and the jumpscare will be less effective.
These aspects combined together create a perfect environment to give the audience a good scare. Let's look at some examples of effective jumpscares that follow this model.
A video was shared online in the mid-2000s that showed a car heading down a road with many twists and turns. You stared at the car and listened to the soft music playing, when suddenly a grotesque zombie face came out of the corner of the screen and let out a scream.
Jumpscares have become a horror movie staple as of the late 1970s. When the slasher film genre started gaining popularity, it became a common occurrence to have the villain pop out of nowhere (accompanied by a sudden increase of volume in the music) to startle the viewer in their seats. Thus, the jumpscare was born.
Jumpscares are a combination of “...tension, cinematic sleight-of-hand, and score…” that delivers a shock to viewer so intense that it makes them jump in their seat. The director needs to create an ideal environment. Too much tension building before the jump will cause the audience to prepare for the scare and it won't be as effective. A delicate touch is needed when creating the jumpscare scene to give the audience a clue of what is about to happen without giving away the when and where. When the music doesn't fit the swelling tension in the scene, the audience’s mood can be changed and the jumpscare will be less effective.
These aspects combined together create a perfect environment to give the audience a good scare. Let's look at some examples of effective jumpscares that follow this model.
This is one of the first jumpscares shown in film and has become a classic among film and horror enthusiasts alike. The final boat scene in the 1980 Friday the 13th follows the model of a well-crafted jumpscare to the letter. This is the final scene in the film where we see our young heroine waiting in a boat for the police to come and take her away from the killer camp. We have a nice build of tension with the heroine floating in a boat in the middle of Crystal Lake, waiting for police to come and take her away from this nightmare. The scene is crafted to be serene and lull the audience into a false sense of security-- we believe that the girl is going to be saved and the tragedy will end. The music is soothing and gives the audience hope that we will see the girl make it through to the end. Then, Jason Voorhees (our slasher in this film) shoots out of the water and the music goes from soothing to screeching. He drags the girl under, killing her and ending our film in a completely different manner than expected.
This scene from Insidious is our modern example of how jumpscares are used in horror films. We see the father, Josh, in the film going into the further (a dream-like dimension of the regular world) in order to save his son from the demon that has hold of him. While in the further, Josh comes across a family in a version of his house. The scene starts building tension when we see this stationary family in the living room of the house and hear the clicking of a gun being cocked. When Josh goes into the kitchen to find one of the daughters with a gun, we see how the scene is being crafted to take us through the different rooms in the house to disorient the audience. A disoriented audience will be unsure of what to expect next. When Josh reenters the living room and finds the daughter from the kitchen standing in front of the family with the gun, he quickly moves his head towards the stairs to listen to a foreign sound. When he turns back around, the music increases with a screech as the entire family is standing directly in front of him. Josh makes a run for the stairs and the scene ends. The audience has been startled and is thoroughly on edge.
Jumpscares are the new norm for horror film scare tactics, so what will be the next way to scare audiences?
Grab a friend and hold onto your seat, the show is about to start.
Just reading your post put me on edge. Supernatural and The Walking Dead are the scariest things I watch, and I watched the first season of each behind my fingers. Both of these shows use the jumpscare techniques you outlined in your post, so I can see why jumpscares are also prevalent in horror films. Three years ago I went to a psychology lecture on haunted houses, and I still remember the speaker’s main point that people like scary things because of the adrenaline rush they get. Jumpscares definitely create an adrenaline rush, which is probably why filmmakers use them. I liked that you ended your post by saying that because jumpscare techniques are the norm now, filmmakers will have to come up with new ways to scare their audience. I wrote about the film Psycho last semester, and that film horrified audiences when it first came out. Today, though, Psycho doesn’t seem that scary of a film. The whole idea of audiences needing new tactics to scare them supports the idea that audiences can grow used to depictions of horror and violence over time (I no longer watch Supernatural and The Walking Dead behind my fingers).
ReplyDeleteI've watched horror movies since a young age and they were mainly older horror movies. I didn't start getting exposed to the jumpscare until I was getting into my teens and they would get me every time. I like to be scared, so the jumpscares (especially in Supernatural) would give me a shock that I got addicted to. It will be interesting to see what the next trend in horror scare tactics. Found footage-style films are pretty popular right now and I think we're going to see many more films with an atmospheric air of dread and unease. I think it will be less about getting a momentary fright out of the audience and more about making the audience feel dread during the entire duration of a movie.
DeleteLet me start by saying, I hate horror movies. Cluck, cluck, I'm a chicken. Like Rachel, Supernatural is about as 'scary' as I go. I am currently watching Stranger Things, and even doing that took a year of building courage. As I continue to watch the show (I'm about half way through) I am going to consciously pay attention to the ways the music changes the tone. I wonder if I can predict any jump scares that way...
ReplyDeleteI remember "watching" Insidious at a friend's house during her birthday party in middle school. She LOVED scary movies and I could barely handle previews on TV. (For context, I refused to watching Monster's Inc. for 3 years as a child because it had the world monster in it.) I actually don't remember much of the movie, but I do remember jumping a lot during it, so the jump-scares seem to leave a lasting impact on the viewer. I think the next way to scare audiences will come with new technology. Imagine 3-D or 4-D demons lunging at you through the screen!! No thank you. I will gladly watch The Office and live in my non-jumpy bubble.
I think 4-D movies will be an interesting way for the horror movie industry to head. Imagine having a scene like the final moments in the first Friday the 13th where the heroine is waiting on the boat. When Jason pops out of the water, water droplets or a fine mist could hit the audience and the chairs could shake like they're the ones being rocked in the boat and taken down with Jason. That would be terrifying! I think virtual reality is going to find its way into theaters as well, having the audience wear headsets that would allow them to be standing and following the characters around the entire film. I'd be terrified to follow Josh around in Insidious, but it would be great fun at the same time!
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