Jumpscares are a crutch. They scare me when they happen. But mostly, they just piss me off.
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
12 points (100.0% liked)
WomensStuff
707 readers
235 users here now
Women only trans inclusive This is an inclusive community for all things women. Whether you're here for make up tips, feminism or just friendly chit chat, we've got you covered.
Rules…
- Women only… trans women are women, and transphobic or gender critical talk isn’t allowed. Anyone under the trans umbrella (e.g. non-binary, bigender, agender) is free to decide whether a women's community is a good fit for them.
- Don’t be a dick. No personal attacks, no aggression, play nice.
- Don’t hate on groups, hatefilled talk about groups is not allowed. Ever.
- No governmental politics, so no talk of Trump actions etc. We recommend Feminism@beehaw.org for that, but here is an escape from it.
- New accounts or users with few comments may have their posts removed to prevent spam and bad-faith participation.
founded 7 months ago
MODERATORS
A well-placed jump scare in the middle of ever-ratcheting tension can give you a moment's false release before you do something REALLY nasty. They're a tool, and sometimes are good.
Most often, however, they are bad. REALLY bad.
Slow-burn, rising-tension, suspense for me.
same! I hate jump scares and prefer a slow build 😁
What's your favourite?
That changes every five minutes or so, but some of the ones that are consistently showing up include 1963's The Haunting, the Carpenter version of The Thing, Alien (but not the later which are more action horror), the original Night of the Living Dead, the 1970s version of Nosferatu, and, if you squint right, the proto-noir, proto-psychological horror of M.
I love the original Alien trilogy! I tried to watch Alien Covenant yesterday I had to switch it off after 30 minutes cos the characters were making such ludicrous decisions.
Oh, and Ghostbusters.
No, really.
Stop laughing! I'm serious!
I'm not really into either, but I love a good comedy-mystery: Clue, Glass Onion, Hot Fuzz, etc.
Ghostbusters. Which is both the perfect slow-burn horror movie and a perfect comedy. (It's rare for comedy-horror to get both right. Ghostbusters is one of the few examples. Tremors is another.)
OMG, right?! Great film!
For very complicated reasons I have by now seen this movie 50 or so times.
Not because I'm an obsessed superfan. Just ... the first 27 times were ... kinda/sorta an accident?¹ The rest of the times were me showing the film to English classes here in China² for Halloween. As a result, though, I'm very familiar with all the tricks used in the film (for both its horror vibe and its comedy vibe) ... and still number it among my favourite films of all time.
¹
I saw it, together with friends, on opening night in Regina, early show. It was so funny we almost all bought another ticket and went back in for the late show. On my way out of that I ran into a friend I owed a movie to. They said "Ghostbusters". Then still later another friend who owed me a movie said "Ghostbusters" and I gladly agreed. Over the next month or so, through this kind of trade I was dragged into seeing the movie 27 times in total. And didn't regret a single viewing.
²
One thing that really freaked me out originally is that a lot of my earlier students didn't understand this was a comedy and were terrified by the film! They thought it was a very well-made horror movie but the comedy aspects of it went way over their heads. This stopped being the case after about ... I want to say 2005 ... as more comedy horrors leaked into China and people joking about dead spirits became more common.
I can't bear anything to psychologically scary, so I tend to go for lighter films. I do like a good jump scare! They're great fun
Suspense is the best. A good jump scare is good, don't get me wrong, but you need the suspense leading up to it.
I've discovered I really like films that fill you with dread. The ones that keep tightening the wire and you're waiting for it to snap. Sinister is my favorite horror movie.
i watched this horror video about someone who bought a used laptop found a cursed Minecraft world installed. Sounds cheesy but the suspense was AMAZING and the main character was actually SMART and not dumb as rocks. It might have helped that I was stoned and nostalgic while watching... but still!! it was really good and I enjoyed it.
Jump scares can be annoying, but to be totally honest, sometimes scenes where the tension just keeps building and building with no relief can be more annoying. They're both tools that horror media should use. I think jump scares get a bad rap because it's easier to spot poor usage of them.
Welcome to WomensStuff! We're a trans inclusive women's only community please check out our rules in the sidebar