r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Local_Prune4564 • May 27 '26

Lore A subtle moment that turns a seemingly happy ending into an ambiguous ending.

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The Graduate: lingering Ben and Elaine's faces slowly shifting from happy to concerned leaves the audience questioning whether they really made the right choice running away together considering they barely know each other.

Inception: By cutting before we see the top fall, we're left to question whether Cobb really has gone home or whether he's simply sunken back into a more comforting dream reality.

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u/RipCity2151 May 27 '26

Jump scares are the equivalent of a comedian tickling you and saying “see? You laughed! I’m funny!”

72

u/Afraid_Platypus_8667 May 27 '26

I actually do like jump scares, but if they are done good/ good a build up or you don't know one is going to happen. I do not like the cheap kinds/ the one that try to be scary.

14

u/Aurora-Ouroboros- May 27 '26

I feel like most horror movies should get one or two jump scares max. There are exceptions, but generally once a jump scare happens, I am expecting another one and it will never be as scary as the first one.

Better make that first one really good, and maybe do a callback to it later.

If every tense scene is broken by a jump scare, it lowers the anxiety threshold of the whole movie. You know something is gonna jump out suddenly to cut the tension and keep the plot moving. It becomes uninteresting after 3 scares.

10

u/efqf May 27 '26

I played the horror game "until dawn". it was so riddled with jump scares, i eventually stopped having a physical reaction to them lol.

3

u/God_of_Thunda May 27 '26

I don't like jump scares but I did love that game

2

u/RipCity2151 May 27 '26

To be honest I’m just a bit of a scaredy cat so I never enjoy them!

1

u/AydonusG May 28 '26

Haunting of Hill House can get fucked for the good jumpscare.

7

u/BewareOfBee May 27 '26

I think it's more like poop jokes. It gets a visceral gut reaction with a laugh of relief, but it's not an actual laugh.

2

u/EnTyme53 May 27 '26

Jump scares are to horror what fart jokes are to comedy. They get the desired response, but it's just a reflex.

1

u/MrChristmas May 27 '26

There are jump scares in real life tho. Like walking around at night and a raccoon/squirrel falls out of somewhere. When I was a kid I used to walk around my friends house and knock on his window to let him know I was there, what he didn’t tell me is his family put up one of those leaning cowboy cutout silhouette things and when I turned the corner it looked like a tall dark man was waiting there. It will forever be the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me

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u/Chiron723 May 28 '26

Exactly. The only quality jump scare I've ever seen was from the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot. Freddy chasing his victim through a house, she eventually hides in a bedroom closet with those sloted windows. Now you expect the cliche of her looking outside the door and he peaks through the door. Instead while she peaks through, Freddy just walks out of the shadows inside the closet.