jump scare

plural jump scares · alternative jump-scare · alternative jumpscare

1. broadcastingA sudden, unexpected and startling event in media designed to frighten the audience.

   This quiet is broken suddenly with an initial jump scare of the puppet's iconic laughter.

   2013, Jeffrey Bullins, “Hearing the Game: Sound Design”, in James Aston, editor, To See the Saw Movies: Essays on Torture Porn and Post-9/11 Horror, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 188

   2 more examples

   They'd do something horrible, maybe kill off a few protagonists, and then make people sit around waiting for the next terrible thing to come along. They called it “setting up a jump scare.”

   2011, Mira Grant, Deadline, Orbit, published 2011, →ISBN

   Drag Me to Hell capitalizes on the jump scare, scattering it liberally throughout the film to the point where it becomes almost numbing.

   2011, John Rosenberg, The Healthy Edit: Creative Techniques for Perfecting Your Movie, Focal Press, →ISBN, pages 80–81

2. broadlyfigurativelyhumorousThe sudden arrival or advent of something unpleasant.

   white woman jump scare

3. figurativelyA fright caused by this.

   The loud knock at the door gave me a terrible jump scare.

present singular third person jump scares · participle present jump scaring · participle past jump scared · past jump scared · alternative jump-scare · alternative jumpscare

1. transitivebroadcastingTo frighten (an audience) by means of something that happens suddenly without warning.