jump scare

• jump-scare, jumpscare

jump scare (plural jump scares)

1. (narratology) The technique, typically used in horror films and video games, of having something occur suddenly and without warning to frighten the audience.
   • 2011, Mira Grant, Deadline‎, Orbit, published 2011, →ISBN:

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

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

   • 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:

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

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:jump scare.

jump scare (third-person singular simple present jump scares, present participle jump scaring, simple past and past participle jump scared)

1. (transitive) To frighten (a film audience or video game player, etc.) by means of something that happens suddenly without warning.

From English jump scare.

• IPA^(key): /dʒœm(p) skɛʁ/

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jump scare m (plural jump scares)

1. (film) jump scare