True sign of a great fright flick or just an overused haunted house gimmick? The jumpscare, considered by many to be a necessity in the modern day horror movie, has garnered both friends and foes, along the way becoming a staple of the modern day horror movie production trick-bag
Scares - They Don't Come Easy
Properly scaring moviegoers requires talents and skills which not every filmmaker can claim to possess. Many so-called horror movies quickly get relegated to the bargain bin because they don't deliver on the promise - those precious moments of fright and terror which earn them the right to be called a horror film.
Modern filmmakers have an incredible array of tools in their arsenal to choose from to try and achieve a great scare. Skillful use of these tools can, in the hands of a seasoned cast and crew, create that elusive, yet satisfying experience which every horror movie fan craves. While certainly not the only trick in the book, the jumpscare is a particularly satisfying fright which, when done properly, can leave a lasting impression on an unsuspecting audience.
So, what exactly is the jumpscare and why is it so popular in today's horror movies?
As its' name suggests, a jumpscare is a physical reaction to something scary, literally causing the person experiencing it to jump. Generally speaking, the jumpscare works through the mechanisms of misdirection, surprise and brief sensory overload. It can be so powerful that it sometimes leaves people momentarily disoriented.
Friday The 13th - A Classic Horror Jumpscare
The final scene of Friday The 13th is an excellent example of a jumpscare which is effective as well as memorable. It employs all the classic traits of an effective jumpscare - misdirection, sudden surprise and sensory overload. Of course, for those of you who haven't seen Friday The 13th, I won't describe it in detail. Check it out for yourself.
Science Behind The Scare - The Startle Response
One of the reasons the jumpscare has become so popular and prevalant in the modern-day horror film, is because it triggers a very specific human behavior which really can't be easily prevented. It's called the Startle Response, and it's literally hardwired into our brains.
Like a modern car, equipped with airbags and lane and crash sensors, the human body is designed to respond, in the blink of an eye if necessary, to sudden perceived changes in the surrounding environment. It's a defense mechanism which can help us respond to potentially life-threatening situations, even before we consciously realize we are in any danger.
To illustrate, I will use an example from my own past. I live in a rural area of the country, a place where it's not at all uncommon to see various types of wildlife all around my home and neighborhood, at all hours of the day and night. One day, as I was headed out to go somewhere, I got the jumpscare of my life. Here's what happened...
As soon as I began to open the front door of the house, fully intending to walk through the open doorway to the outside, two things occurred, almost simultaneously. I heard what sounded like a baby rattle. Then, a split second later, I felt my entire body jerk backwards and my head pull down and into my upper chest. The response happened so quickly, I nearly fell over backwards. Regaining my composure I looked down in front of the doorway to see a small rattlesnake, curled up in front of the door. The Startle Response had stopped me dead in my tracks, literally throwing me back and away from danger. It was so fast and so intense, it felt as if I had no choice whatsover whether to act on the threat or not, as if it was all being done automatically.
Of course, horror movie producers can't be releasing lives rattlesnakes into the theater to freely interact with the audience. So, how do they get the Startle Response - the jumpscare - to happen?
The Element of Surprise (They Never Saw It Coming)
If we look back on my experience with the rattlesnake, one of the first things apparent is that I was in no way expecting to have that encounter. I was casually walking out to greet the day, with no thought that I was in imminent danger of any type. In other words, I was completely unsuspecting of what was about to happen.
This is often how the jumpscare is set up in a horror movie. A scene will be designed in a way that leads the viewer to believe there is no imminent threat to any of the characters in the scene. The atmosphere may be relaxed, the conversation light and inconsequential. In this way, the scene is designed to misdirect the audience away from any feelings of threat. This is especially necessary in a horror movie - a movie specifically designed to scare people. The horror movie audience consciously expect to be scared at some point during the film. This fact actually makes it more difficult to scare the audience, since they are already waiting for the scene or scenes that are supposed to scare them. So, the technique of misdirection is a subtle way of temporarily guiding the audience's thoughts away from this understanding.
As the characters (and audience) are being led in this apparent innocent direction, the jumpscare is introduced into the scene, abruptly changing everything. Just like the moment I opened the door and heard the rattle of the snake, the jumpascare introduces something, or set of things, so jarring to the viewers senses, that it causes the reflex reaction in the viewer to occur. It triggers the Startle Response.
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