CoolCat posted:

I've heard a lot of people say that jumpscares are effective horror techniques, even movie critics. Which puzzles me. In my opinion, jumpscares are very cheap. Sure, they scare the hell out of us, but they just take no imagination to create.

The silent build up makes us expect that a jumpscare is coming, and the loud noise is just cheap. I know I'll get crucified for this, but Alien had some really cheap jumpscares, in my opinion. There's silence, so you know that something is coming, and then, suddenly, there's a loud noise. Very effective, but so cheap...

An example of a good jumpscare is the body in the closet, in The Ring (2002 remake). The conversation between the mother and the journalist causes us to lower our guard, and we totally don't expect the sudden image of the disfigured face. There is a noise to accompany this, but it isn't very loud and intrusive, and it's more of the imagery that scares us.

Basically, in my opinion, it doesn't matter if a jumpscare actually signifies something scary. The loud noise and silent build up are just cheap horror techniques. What are your thoughts on this?