20 Best Jump Scare Movies (& Where To Stream Them)

Some of the best jump scare movies are the ones that have little going on in the frame for most of the time, allowing the viewer to effectively scare themselves with the power of their own imagination. But this doesn’t mean that the art of the jump scare is beneath great filmmakers, quite the opposite. The best jump scare movies demonstrate that horror masters throughout cinematic history have used the jump as a powerful tool to pull the audience deeper into their terrifying worlds, and while there are often cheap scares, the best ones are the scares that really take viewers by surprise.

The best jump scare movies are the ones that don’t feel cheap to the audience, building up each scenario carefully and methodically over long periods of time to earn the scare. Finding the best jump scare horror movies on places like Netflix is not an easy task, as it requires the film to be both crowd-pleasing in a broad sense and highly attentive to small details at the same time. However, when horror fans find the movies with the best jump scares, they provide something special that elevates the movie to another level.

20 Hell Fest (2018)

28 Jump Scares

In 2018, Hell Fest brought a throwback horror movie to the big screen, and it quickly joined the ranks of the best jump scare movies with an impressive 28 jump scares in its running time. The film focuses on a traveling theme park and a masked man known as “The Other” who lives there and kills people visiting the event. When a group of young adults heads out to the carnival, The Other starts to hunt them down, kill them, and leave some of them lying around as trophies.

This allowed the perfect chance for a lot of jump scares throughout the movie when dead bodies pop up out of nowhere, making the killer’s appearances often a surprise. Haunted houses and similar attractions are all built on jump scares with the participants never knowing what is around the next corner. The movie does a great job trying to replicate that feel.

19 The Descent (2005)

16 Jump Scares

Neil Marshall directed one of the best horror movies of the 2000s with The Descent. This was a hiking horror movie that started with a shocking moment that came as a jump scare when a car accident killed the main protagonist’s husband and daughter. The movie picks up a year later when she goes spelunking with her friends and ends up trapped in caverns where there are mutated creatures that start hunting the women down.

Being in a dark cavern with monsters hiding in the shadows, there was room for very effective jump scares, with a wide array of methods for delivering them. Likely the most famous jump scare is the moment the women begin to feel that there is something in the cave with them leading them to use a camera’s night vision which reveals one of the creatures standing beside them.

18 The Nun (2018)

21 Jump Scares

The Nun was a spinoff from The Conjuring universe, and it was popular enough that it warranted a sequel in 2023. The sequel explained how the new franchise was connected to The Conjuring and Lorraine Warren. However, the first Nun movie was a very effective example of a jump scare movie with 21 different jump scares in it. The movie had a young nun named Sister Irene who ends up face to face with an ancient evil demon named Valak who takes the form of a demonic nun.

The Nun was well-reviewed and provided horror fans with a scary film regardless of its connection to the overall Conjuring franchise. The franchise is known for its unnerving jump scares which create a sense of tension. The Nun features many memorable ones, including the very startling moment Sister Irene is exploring a tunnel. As she looks down one path, the camera follows her gaze and then returns to her to see a ghostly figure behind her. When she turns to see it, Valak attacks from beside her.

17 Candyman (1992)

16 Jump Scares

In the 1990s, slasher movies were going out of style, and those were possibly the bottom of the barrel when it came to jump-scare movies as far as doing them respectfully. However, in the 90s, there was one more new slasher icon that arrived before they died out and this was Candyman. The movie is based on an old legend similar to Bloody Mary where a person says the name of the demon three times in a mirror, and he comes to life and kills people.

While it is often assumed the element of surprise is how to make the most effective jump scare, anticipation actually plays a very important role. The audience can assume that when the characters start saying “Candyman” in the mirror, the killer will appear. However, one flashback to a Candyman victim shows how effectively these moments can be dragged out as a woman finally says the name the third time and then swiftly turns off the light only for his reflection to appear.

16 Talk To Me (2023)

3 Jump Scares

In 2023, a new horror movie hit theaters that was an immediate hit and might go down as a modern-day classic. This was Talk to Me, which followed a group of young friends who found an embalmed hand that they found out allows them to communicate with the dead if they grasp it. However, those who grasp it too long find themselves falling prey to the dead, who want to bring more to their side.

It doesn’t have nearly as many jumps as the best jump scare movies, but it has three of them total and one of the jumps is better than just about any other horror movie. The central “game” sets the stage for many of the best jump scares as the protagonist reluctantly participates for the first time, using the magic phrase, “talk to me” only for a corpse to be suddenly sitting in front of her. The movie was a huge success and Talk to Me 2 is in development.

15 It Follows (2014)

5 Jump Scares

It Follows is a high-concept horror movie that’s driven by very simple–yet very effective–scares. The premise is that a curse transmitted through sexual intercourse dooms a person to be followed for the rest of their lives by a slow-moving–but constantly pursuing–entity that will kill them when it catches up to them. Maika Monroe plays Jay, the young woman who is the latest target of the curse.

The best jump scare movies have a never-ending sense of unease to them and, like the main character, the audience never feels safe from this petrifying monster as it can take the form of anyone and appear at just about any moment. This tension builds to very memorable jump scares such as when Jay is hiding out in her friend’s room when a tall form of the entity suddenly emerges from the shadows, silently coming at her.

14 Sinister (2012)

17 Jump Scares

An experiment conducted in 2020 found that Sinister was the scariest horror movie of all time due to its ability to raise the heart rate of viewers, and it’s fairly easy to why that was the case. The plot sees an author discover a box of old home movies in the attic of his new house that show various gruesome murders. Through the horrific discovery, he begins to suspect that this is the work of a decades-long serial killer.

As the audience is forced to watch each of the movies with him and unravel the disturbing mystery behind them, it becomes impossible to look away from the pulse-pounding horror on display. One of the most jump scares in modern horror comes from one of the videos as the footage seems to be someone filming themselves mowing the lawn at night only for a bound person to appear on the lawn just as the mower goes over them.

13 Paranormal Activity (2007)

10 Jump Scares

Paranormal Activity is a memorable found-footage horror movie that helped to revitalize the genre nearly a decade after The Blair Witch Project. The first film centers on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home, and they set up cameras to document the phenomena with terrifying results. The popularity of the movie spawned a long-running franchise that continued to use a similar approach.

Showing only grainy home video footage might seem like it would minimize the impact of a horror movie. However, Paranormal Activity actually does the opposite as the audience is always looking out for the tiniest movement or listening out for the smallest noise right before the movie delivers a loud shock out of nowhere. There is a slow-burn build-up until the final night recorded by the family which is filled with memorable jump scares including the final image of a possessed woman lunging at the camera.

12 Brightburn (2019)

20 Jump Scares

Brightburn is an intriguing blend of horror and superhero movies focusing on a young boy who comes to Earth from another planet and is raised by a kind couple. However, as the boy gets older, he begins to realize the extent of his powers and turns down a dark path. Exploring the idea of an evil Superman-type figure, Brightburn not only comes with an exciting and original premise, but it comes with a hefty collection of jump scares as well, not to mention one of the highest horror movie kill counts of all time.

The movie’s villain has no need for machetes, hatchets, or elaborate traps to bring the terror, all he needs is a well-aimed gaze. The quick speed of the killer kid makes for some sudden scares, including a scene of him intimidating a scared victim and then lunging at her at superspeed, taking the audience by surprise.

11 The Conjuring (2013)

12 Jump Scares

The Conjuring is a supernatural horror film based on a true story. After the Perron family is terrorized by a dark entity in their secluded Rhode Island home, they look to paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to shed some light on what they’re dealing with. While it may not be much of a unique storyline in terms of horror movies, there’s a lot of creativity behind each shock, with each sudden appearance of a ghostly figure outdoing the last.

The movie was so effective with its jump scares that it spawned a massive Conjuring franchise. It does a very effective job of building up moments of tension that leave the audience on the edge of their seats just as they are hit with a jump scare. The most memorable comes with an extended sequence of a character exploring a mysterious clapping coming from inside the house. As she investigates the dark basement, hands reach out of the shadows behind her and clap.

10 Creep (2014)

9 Jump Scares

Creep is a found footage horror film that shows the footage of a videographer named Aaron who agrees to work for Josef, a terminally ill man who says that he wants to make a series of videos for his unborn son. As their day of filming progresses though, Josef becomes increasingly unsettling in his behavior, and it soon becomes clear that his main aim is to scare Aaron, whose perspective the viewer is always forced to look through.

The movie is a unique type of horror movie as it unsettles the audience more with awkward social interactions than outright scares. However, as uncomfortable as Josef is in most situations, he gradually becomes more of a threat as the movie progresses. The most effective jump scare comes at the end when there is a long, unmoving shot only for Aaron to suddenly pop into frame and scream right at the camera.

9 Hush (2016)

7 Jump Scares

Total silence makes jump scares in movies all the more frightening, which Hush capitalizes on throughout as the film follows a deaf woman who finds herself being hunted like prey in the middle of nowhere by a masked killer. There are several times when the main character remains completely oblivious to the fact that the killer is right behind her but tenser still are the moments when she enacts her plans to fight back, with the audience never quite knowing where the movie is going to go next.

The movie comes from the modern horror great Mike Flanagan but trades in his typical supernatural horror approach for a more realistic and unsettling home invasion movie. Many of the best jump scares put the audience in a similar situation as the central woman, Maddie, with the killer suddenly appearing in front of her or his face popping up as she looks out the window, taking pleasure in giving her a fright.

8 The Babadook (2014)

11 Jump Scares

The Babadook‘s story may seem simple enough at first: a widowed mother named Amelia reads a mysterious pop-up storybook called Mister Babadook to her son, who soon becomes convinced that Mister Babadook is real, with the eerie figure invading their lives. As the movie develops, however, it becomes clear that the true horror lies within Amelia’s own subconscious as her struggles with her grief and her trials as a single parent begin to overwhelm her.

It’s true psychological horror that forces Amelia, and the audience along with her, to face horrific thoughts that burst into her life at the worst–and sometimes most unexpected–moments. The Babadook monster design is also very effective with him often blending into the shadows which makes for the most memorable jump scares as his presence is suddenly revealed in subtle yet terrifying ways.

7 Insidious (2010)

24 Jump Scares

Insidious, directed by James Wan, is the first installment in the Insidious franchise and the third in terms of series chronology. In the film, a couple’s son falls into a coma and becomes a vessel for ghosts who want to inhabit his body. Things get progressively darker and darker throughout the plot, and the unexpected twists and turns, particularly at the end, guarantee non-stop shocks until the credits roll.

While there are plenty of jump scares, the most iconic is easily the Red-Faced Demon appearance that comes during a seemingly casual conversation, catching audiences off guard. The staging of the scene is brilliant as it is a conversation between two people as one of them relays a story. The audience expects the scare to come in the flashback and that they feel safe when focused back on the conversation only for an epic jump scare to be thrown in.

6 Scream (1996)

19 Jump Scares

Scream is both a subversively seminal slasher film and one of the best jump-scare horror movies ever made. The movie follows the life of high school student Sidney Prescott as she becomes the target of an elusive masked killer. The movie mixes in an element of a whodunnit mystery with the identity of the killer raising the tension as it could be anyone.

Though effectively a parody of the slasher genre, Scream won over horror movie fans by analyzing and subverting tropes like jump scares rather than just making fun of them or recreating them. As a result, even seasoned horror fans can be left clueless about what’s going to happen next. The iconic opening sequence of Scream has some of the best jump scares, most notably when Ghostface first shows himself to the surprise of Casey (Drew Barrymore).

5 A Quiet Place (2018)

14 Jump Scares

Simple silence is what makes jump scares all the more effective, and there are few horror movies that are as quiet as A Quiet Place. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the plot revolves around a family coping with life now that humanity is constantly hunted by alien creatures that hunt by sound. Any sound the family makes, however small, can be detected by the creatures from great distances, so their silence is crucial to their survival.

As all horror enthusiasts know, the secret to a good jump scare is tension, and this movie is positively fraught with it. The movie uses its lack of sound to great effect as the sudden attacks are all the more effective when breaking the silence. One of the biggest jumps comes from a simple moment of a monster suddenly attacking a helpless raccoon who clearly didn’t know the danger of making noise.

4 The Blair Witch Project (1999)

18 Jump Scares

The Blair Witch Project tells the fictional story of three student filmmakers who set out on a hiking expedition to film a documentary about a rural legend known as the Blair Witch. However, when they get lost in the dense forest and begin to see signs of being followed, they begin to suspect that the legends are more true than they had assumed.

Like many of the best horror movies of all time, The Blair Witch Project has a constant feeling of dread throughout it, and that’s what really primes the viewers for a good jump scare. Whether it’s the snapping of a twig in the darkness or an unexpected scream, viewers of the film become just as hyper-sensitive as the characters. This led to The Blair Witch Project‘s ending with the sudden appearance of a character standing facing the wall being a more effective jump scare than many would assume.

3 Drag Me To Hell (2009)

23 Jump Scares

After the huge mainstream success of his Spider-Man movies, Sam Raimi returned to his roots and delivered one of the most acclaimed horror movies of the past 20 years with Drag Me To Hell. It is a story about a young woman, Christine, who accidentally crosses an old woman who puts a curse on her in retaliation, stating that she will be tormented by a demon for three days before it comes to take her to Hell.

The sound design in the movie goes a long way in making each jump scare powerful enough to really rattle the audience, especially as the demon remains mostly unseen throughout, but its malevolent presence is still felt very strongly. The best scare comes when Christine, lays down in bed next to her boyfriend but turns to see it is the evil woman lying next to her.

2 It (2017)

23 Jump Scares

Adapted from Stephen King’s iconic novel of the same name, It depicts the horrifying ordeal of a group of children living in a small town in Maine during the 1980s as they are mercilessly terrorized by a murderous entity that appears in the form of a clown named Pennywise. While the young kids form a strong bond of friendship, it becomes clear that they will need to destroy it before it can destroy them.

Pennywise’s appearances throughout the movie in his many unsettling forms put the viewer constantly on edge, with the opening scene establishing that nobody is safe from this horror movie monster. One of the best sequences of the movie comes as the children are looking at a slide projector with Pennywise suddenly being seen in the slides. It then takes on a life of its own until it shuts off, leaving the room in darkness. It comes back on with Pennywise suddenly emerging from the screen.

1 Evil Dead II (1987)

27 Jump Scares

When it comes to jump scare movies, there are few movie directors who have racked up the numbers over the years quite like the legendary Sam Raimi. With his Evil Dead series, Raimi effectively became the undisputed king of intense and in-your-face horror movies. Setting up a simple premise that would become a favorite of the horror genre, it follows a group of friends on a trip to an isolated cabin in the woods where they accidentally awaken an ancient evil.

While his first film in the series was revolutionary for the horror genre, it’s the second one that truly earns its place as one of the best jump scare movies ever. Though it’s generally remembered for its wild sense of humor, Evil Dead II never forgets that it’s a horror movie first. In fact, the best jump scares blend the two elements such as when a possessed woman bursts out of the cellar door in a wild fashion that is startling and hilarious.