The Best Jump Scares in Horror History

The jump scare can be divisive among horror fans, as its tendency to be used as a crutch in an otherwise dull outing has become all too common, whether it be a cat trapped in a cabinet or a bat flying by. Yet, when used effectively, a well-timed jump scare can be a punctuation point in an already terrifying cinematic experience. You know it is a great scare when people talk about how great the film is, before bringing up the moment that really had them squirming in their seats. To give credit where due, we wanted to celebrate some of the best jump scares in horror history.

Here are the 20 best jump scares in some of the scariest horror movies ever.

The following article may contain mild spoilers.

‘Sinister’ (2012)

A Dark Family Film Turns Terrifying When a Lawnmower Is Used To Kill

Scott Derrickson’s Sinister is widely considered to be the scariest film, according to science. And if science says so, then it must be correct. The film tells the story of an author who uses his new house for inspiration to write a new novel. The problem is that he finds a box of tapes that reveal that the place he moved his family to may not be safe at all.

One of the movie’s most clever ways of injecting horror came through Ethan Hawke’s Ellison viewing of old film reels. These were certainly anxiety-inducing for both the character and the audience, but after establishing a series of macabre family films, the film had one reel that left audiences shocked. The infamous reel features a lawnmower being used in a way that surely wasn’t intended. It is so unexpected and built up over an extended period of silence that it all comes together in such an effectively shocking manner.

‘Carrie’ (1976)

A Delivery of Flowers Comes with a Bloodied Hand Bursting From Its Grave

Carrie tells the story of poor Carrie White, a troubled and shy teenager who’s the victim of bullying by classmates and her excessively religious mother. Somehow, she gets a date to the prom, where she will be played the ultimate prank. Only Carrie will have her awakening that night. And her revenge.

Brian De Palma’s twisted coming-of-age horror Carrie leaves its scariest moment until the final scene — Sue Snell’s nightmare sequence. Sue kneels to put flowers on the now-deceased Carrie’s grave, only to be met with the bloodied hand of Carrie (provided by Sissy Spacek, who was not afraid to be buried alive for the jump scare). It may seem cliché now, but it was quite an effective jump scare at the time and still stands out for its execution.

‘The Descent’ (2005)

After Finding a Den of Monsters, One Gets Too Close for Comfort

The indie box-office hit The Descent is not for the faint of heart, and those with an aversion to tight, dark spaces were in for quite the ride with the pulse-pounding horror flick. A group of thrill-seeking friends decide to go spelunking in uncharted caves in this Neil Marshall-directed knockout. The film steadily built tension as the young women realized they were way over their heads. After the route they’re exploring collapses, and they become trapped in the caves with deadly cannibalistic creatures.

The extremely tight quarters and ominous atmosphere ultimately gave way to the arrival of the terrifying cave-dwelling creatures known as Crawlers. In one unforgettable scene, Sarah (Shauna McDonald) and her friends encounter the den of decrepit flesh-eating creatures while using a night vision camera. Unnerving enough, it is the panning back of the camera from the den to one character that reveals one of the creatures standing behind her, delivering the perfect jump scare.

‘Psycho’ (1960)

“Mrs. Bates” Emerges From the Darkness To Attack with a Knife

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho tells the story of Marion Crane, a woman on the run from the law after she decides to steal money to help her lover and escape with him into the sunset. The problem is Marion gets too tired after driving on a rainy night, and she decides to rent a room in Bates Motel, a roadside motel where she will pay the ultimate price.

What Alfred Hitchcock achieves in this entire film by not showing everything heightens the little shock that is there. Notably, while Psycho is milder in its visuals, its chilling soundtrack and shocking subversion of narrative structure deliver a timeless jump scare. Here, Milton Arbogast (played by Martin Balsam) wanders around inside the Bates’ home, only to be met by “Mrs. Bates,” who rushes from a room to slash the detective. Beyond shocking for its time, the continued homage to the scene has somewhat dulled its impact. Still, it holds up thanks in part to the phenomenal build-up through the score from Bernard Herrmann.

‘Lake Mungo’ (2008)

A Picture Is Worth More Than 1,000 Scares

Lake Mungo is a masterpiece of slow-build horror, blending elements of found footage and mockumentary to slowly delve into the remarkable story of a family facing potential supernatural forces. It is this continued build-up in the Australian standout that leads to one of the best jump scares in the sub-genre.

Here, much of the context for why Alice’s phone footage, revealing the image of her own decayed body, works so well lies in its thematic buildup to the moment in question. Instead of a quick pop of noise, the scene slowly unfolds, and the image of a decayed Alice sends waves of shock as it appears on the screen. Considered by many to be one of the best jump scares of the modern era, it shows how subtlety is sometimes the best way to get under the viewer’s skin and make them squirm.

‘[REC]’ (2007)

A Deformed Monster Drags a Woman Into the Darkness

Filmax

[REC] follows a journalist whose piece on the daily lives of firefighters prompts her and her crew to join in as they investigate a strange occurrence in an apartment building in Barcelona. When they arrive, a tarp is thrown over the building, and they’re put in quarantine. Apparently, there’s something loose inside, and the authorities want to keep it there.

[REC] is one of the most terrifying found footage films of all time. The movie uses its limitations to its advantage, thriving on the shakiness and limited vision that come with the genre. Notably, the film’s final moments depict a darkened room, viewed through the lens of a night-vision camera, as the protagonist navigates a large, looming monster within it. The scene is terrifying in itself, but the closing frame sees the protagonist dragged into the dark into some unknown, ghastly fate. This moment remains one of the most frightening jump scares and conclusions ever committed to film.

‘Paranormal Activity 2’ (2010)

Breakfast Is Interrupted by a Violent Paranormal Force

Paranormal Activity 2 is a sort of prequel to Paranormal Activity, where Kristi, Katie’s sister (Katie is one of the leads in the first film), begins experiencing supernatural phenomena in her family’s home.

While the franchise has become quite commercial, some of its installments still offer memorable moments. Paranormal Activity 2, the sequel to the widely popular, box-office-crushing first film, features one of its most notable sequences. There is pure silence as Kristi (Sprague Grayden) goes about her business in the kitchen during the daytime. The jump scare occurs when the entire kitchen explodes, with every cabinet and drawer flying open. It is a brief yet powerful burst of paranormal energy that is delivered perfectly.

‘Oddity’ (2024)

A Nightly Visitor Brings a Dire Warning of a Man in the Home of a Young Woman

From one of the most fascinating and emerging horror directors of the modern era, Damian McCarthy’s Oddity blended supernatural and folk horror, exploring morality and the price of penance for past sins. To set the stage, the movie starts with a shocking murder that also serves as an unforgettable jump scare.

A young woman alone in her newly purchased home is sleeping in a tent while the place gets put together. It is one night that she receives a visitor, a man with a facial deformity who will later be wrongfully accused of her murder. Too scared to let him in, he tells her of a mysterious figure who has walked into her house. Unswayed to let him in or leave, she instead hides away in her tent. The quiet house lets any little noise seep through, and after a few peeks out of the tent, a face pops from the side, showing that the man was not lying. The tension of the night visitor and the interrupted idyllic camping in a new home builds to a highly effective, unforgettable jump scare.

‘Signs’ (2002)

M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs followed two small-town Pennsylvania brothers, Graham and Merrill (Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix), as they fight to protect their family from invading alien forces. After unexplained crop circles appeared in their fields, they soon discovered extraterrestrials had marked their farm. Yet, with the pending alien invasion, the two stick to the TV for any news, getting their first glimpse of the aliens.

Merrill, glued to the TV screen with growing paranoia over the situation, watches a broadcast that claims to offer the first view of the impending alien invasion. While it is obvious what is about to occur, the tension building to the reveal, combined with the shock on Phoenix’s face, is an inescapable gut punch and scare. The build-up of a news reporter discussing the event, cutting to footage of a kid’s birthday party, also perfectly sets up the scene in which an alien emerges from the bushes, only to terrify those who witness it. Signs has some other great jump scares, but this one stands out among them all.

‘Where Evil Lurks’ (2023)

Breaking Two Taboos At Once To Deliver a Shocking Jump Scare

IFC Films

A rural community facing a demonic plague brought evil to the screen in an unrelenting, shocking fashion in Damian Rugna’s Where Evil Lurks. What makes the movie stand out from the countless films about evil entities is the unrelenting force of evil here, with no one person or creature free from its effects. An all-powerful force that just wants to kill, consume, and grow.

This sense of unchecked evil leads to some uncomfortable moments, as the film instills in the viewer the idea that no one or anything is meant to be trusted. This lack of trust, along with the film already establishing animals as vessels of evil, makes a young girl with her dog extremely uneasy as soon as they both appear. The subsequent attack seems inevitable, but audiences don’t know precisely when. The timing and framing make for one of the most shocking jump scares ever put to film.