Being scared out of your wits is a rare cinematic delight. If you were to be shocked and made to scream against your will anywhere else in life it would be seen as assault, but we seek it out in cinemas. Unfortunately, being scared in a multiplex usually means that you have to sit through a story. But one nifty YouTube editor has found a way to circumvent this inconvenience by editing together a 9 minute long video that includes the 40 greatest movie jump scares ever. And, as you'd expect, they're downright terrifying. Have at it below.
Good work to the video's editor, who goes by the name of Burger Fiction, because that was unquestionably petrifying. I have to admit that I had my finger hovering over the close and minimize button throughout, but I somehow managed to persevere. Clearly the video has struck a chord with the Youtube masses, too, because it has so far racked up over 104,000 views, which is far from shabby.
As Rob Gordon in High Fidelity insists, there's a subtle art to making such a compilation. Especially when your video's title is, "This Supercut Will Make You Jump (40 Greatest Movie Jump Scares)." Rather smartly Burger Fiction decided not to try and rank each of the scares, instead having them seemingly pop up at random.
In the same way that Radiohead have been starting their most recent tour with the opening five tracks from their latest album before then diving into their back catalogue, the above supercut uses surprising choices like The Exorcist III, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Insidious, and Mama -- each of which have their own spooky merits -- before bringing out the big guns with 1979's Alien.
Then, at around the 2 minute 25 mark, we get a crescendo of classics as the raptor surprising Laura Dern's Dr. Ellie Satler in Jurassic Park, Samuel L Jackson getting gobbled by a shark Deep Blue Sea, the emergence of the decaying Ben Gardner in Jaws, and then Jason pulling Alice into the lake in Friday The 13th all come one after another.
There are some surprising choices, too, from films that aren't usually associated with the genre, such as Patrick Fischler collapsing in fright at the sight of a horrible figure behind a diner in Mulholland Drive, Sloth breathing his final breath in Seven, and then Bilbo Baggins acting like a right twat to his nephew Frodo in Lord Of The Rings because he wanted the ring to be his again.
As is always the case, you need to go out on a high note. And Burger Fiction does just that, as he shows he knows exactly what he's doing by bringing his Jump Scares supercut to an end with a shot from An American Wolf In London. I mean, what more could you want?
