Best Classic Jump Scares Ever

By RodneyHatfieldJr for Creepy

I read an article recently about jump scares in horror. Although some of their points were valid, they missed the mark totally. Jump scares are as old as dark shadowy scenes. For some reason I have no clue why, people act like jump scares are a brand new thing that just happened in the last ten or fifteen years. Listen up kids, they’ve been a part of the genre from almost the beginning. The first jump scare with sound was of a woman walks down a street at night. The scene is silent but for her footsteps. Suddenly there’s a hiss and scream like a wild animal (large cat), but it’s only a bus. This scene is from Cat People 1942.


Sure there are films that take it way too far and the jumps are all they have going for them(We are looking at you Conjuring Universe). An abundance of jump scares does not make a film terrible. It simply makes it ineffective for some audience members. I view them as cheap and boring if used too much, but we all like different things. The world could benefit from repeating: “Just because I don’t like it, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad”.


Some jump scares are legendary due to near perfect placement in a film, and it’s time we go fishing (lol Jaws) into some of the best examples in horror history. Naturally these are not in any order other than how my little brain remembers them. Here are my most memorable jump scares.


Jaws: “You’re going to need a bigger boat…”

Though relatively tame by today’s standards, I was like 7 years old when I saw Jaws, and this scene had kept me out of the ocean. Brody was shook, and so was I! Screw it, I’m living my life in the mountains.


Carrie: Hand from the grave 

There was Sue looking innocent in whiteish pink with a soft light around her. There was that beautiful, melody playing over the scene. BAM There’s a bloody hand and arm coming up out of the ground and grabbing Sue.

Oh how this surprised me. If I had been holding for the bathroom, I would have soiled myself. Thanks VHS tapes and the ability to pause for bathroom breaks. 


Friday the 13th

Alice has a nightmare or not, who really knows. She is sitting in the boat and is attacked by the rotting corpse of young Jason Voorhees, who emerges from Crystal Lake. 

I think we burned a VHS of this up rewinding and re-watching this part. Just like Carrie, you can not trust the endings of horror films. I only trust them when the lights come on in the theaters or when I eject the Blu-ray. 


Final Destination: Terry Chaney and the Bus

Final Destination was a franchise filled with jump scares. But there is just something to Terry Chaney’s death by bus in the first installment that stands out. I guess it being right out of the blue in a seemingly normal scene.


Psycho: Mummified Mrs. Bates

Some will probably argue that this is not a jump scare, well tough, this is my list. That reveal was terrifying unexpected the first time I saw this.

Mrs. Bates; exhumed, taxidermized, and made out to be a villain. 

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