I scream. You scream. We all scream for jump scares! Properly executed, this is the trope that will get audiences shrieking in terror. Use it too often, and it dulls the impact. Timing and setting is everything for the jump scare.

Our Formal Declaration of a Jump Scream:

Jump scares exploit the human’s natural fight or flight response to a threat, causing an automatic physical reaction like quickened heart beats and adrenaline rushes. A scene that shocks and frightens you so that you suddenly move.

The Scariest Things Team is not hardened to good jump scares. Heather is a screamer. Mike is a jumper. Liz and Eric like to watch Mike jump.

Filmmakers employ different methods to deploy their jump scares. Sometimes there is a buildup of tension, building anticipation. (The jack-in-the-box). Other times, they catch an audience when their guard is down, in a false sense of security. But, you have to be careful, if you utilize the jump scare too often, there may be diminishing returns for the scares.

Used in: Alien, The Thing, Paranormal Activity, The Grudge

Used in: Sinister, Exorcist III, Friday the 13th
This technique sometimes gets employed at the end of the movie once the audience thinks that the danger has passed.

Used in: Scream, Halloween, Paranormal Activity 3, Poltergeist
Variants of this include the classic monster under the bed or monster in a closet trope.

This movie has FOUR all-time classic jump scares. Three jack-in-the-box moments and a cat jump scare for the ages!