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Originally Posted by Angra
Agreed. It wasn't.
There was maybe about 6 jump scares in the whole movie. (Just saw it to be sure)
I tend to call all jump scares cheap, but I see what Giganticface is sayin, that there are different levels of cheapness in jump scares. James Wan is certainly at the lowest levels as he actually DO try to make an effort and often tries to make long build-ups up to each jump scare.
That being said, I still think all jump scares are cheap, as you can have the audience watching two people having a conversation, a girl sleeping or a freakin tree, and suddenly BAM!!!, cut to a little cute bunny accompanied by loud music or noise, and you have yourself a successful jump scare, coz People's brain doesn't expect that. In my book that's just too easy and I'm honestly really tired of the overuse. It's like all creepy atmospheric build-ups has to end with a jump scare nowadays. Heck, a guy like James Wan has made it his trademark.
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Well said. It's true James Wan has made this his trademark, which is too bad because Saw was so much the opposite.
The best example I can think of of a non-cheap jump scare is the hospital hallway scene in The Exorcist III. I personally wouldn't call it a jump scare (like I described in my last post), but I could see how some would since it lulls the viewer with atmosphere and then gets a rise out of them. I think most of James Wan's jump-ish scares fall in this category too, without coming close to as good.
I totally agree that, regardless of cheapness level, the tactic is way overused. I think horror films have reached new levels of dependency on the worst types of jump scares. So many films use crappy CGI with a loud noise to startle us with some demon, creepy kid, or ghost. And even worse are the found footage (especially of the paranormal variety) totally-quiet-then-everything-goes-haywire scares. Paranormal Activity 2, the scene in the bathroom, is a good example.
Surprisingly though, the technique is nothing new. I can't tell you how many old horror films I've seen where a cat jumps out, or bats suddenly fly out of an attic door, or a bird flies through the window -- even many of the great classics. My dad is always making fun of this, and I think it's one of the reasons the genre gets a bad rap. Because it really is cheap.
Say what you will about Rob Zombie, but I found Lords of Salem, which was pretty creepy without a single thing resembling a jump scare, to be refreshing. Unfortunately, that's not what sells at the box office.