It’s easy to tell some of the things that made you jump during a standard 90-minute horror movie. The genre is known for drawing its suspense from the screams and fear of the crowd. Horror television, however, has a slightly more difficult idea of a perfectly placed jumpscare. Since episodes last about an hour in hindsight, timing is everything. Mike Flanagan, Ryan Murphy and even the Duffer Brothers are in control of the horror market when it comes to streaming and television. From Flanagan’s The Midnight Club to Murphy’s American Horror Story: Murder HouseHere are the best jumpscares in a horror TV show, ranked.
6/6 The Old Woman – The Midnight Club
Flanagan’s new Netflix series The Midnight Club vibrates at a different frequency than his other works. The series is based on a Christopher Pike novel of the same name and tells not one but several stories. The children of Brightcliffe Hospice are all destined to die, but every night they gather around the fire to share scary stories that, more often than not, reveal truths about their deepest selves. The Midnight Club breaks away from the family drama and long epilogues filled with Flanagan, telling a story more focused on acceptance and friendship. That’s not to say the series is completely haunted by ghosts. Brightcliffe’s children, Ilonka (played by Iman Benson), is haunted by a terrifying ghostly old woman who likes to appear in dark corners. The series is currently being praised by NPR for breaking the record for most jumpscares in a single episode – 21.
5/6 Violet in the Crawl Space – American Horror Story: Murder House
American horror story‘s first season premiered in 2011 and was titled: Murder House. The season focused on the Harmon family, who move to Los Angeles after some family trauma. The Harmons are excited about their new start, but are soon haunted by the very real, unknown ghosts who also live in their newly renovated home. One of the unpleasant perks of dying on the “murder house” grounds is that the souls can never leave. Each of the Harmons comes to an early end, but Violet (played by Taissa Farmiga) certainly has the most unpleasant death. The scene isn’t exactly a “jump scare” in the traditional sense, but it certainly has the power to make your skin jump. Violet believes she attempted suicide and survived, but she learns from Tate (played by Evan Peters) that she was really successful, and he hid her body in the crawl space. The scene where Violet is revealed is particularly shocking, and there hasn’t been a season of the show since that can capture that amount of unease.
4/6 Possessed Woman – Ash vs Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s The Evil Death has long been considered one of the most terrifying films of the 1980s. The film was shot in a Michigan cabin, where the crew faced treacherous climate conditions during production. The film has three direct sequels and a remake that came out in 2013, with a new installment scheduled for 2023 bearing the title. Evil Dead Rise. In between, a horror comedy TV show starring Bruce Campbell as Ash premiered on Starz in 2015, and if you’re not familiar with the Deadites, you’re in for a treat. Ash vs Evil Dead is packed with comedy and jumping anxiety from the makeup alone. Deadites and their milky white eyes will remind you of them for days.
3/6 The Man in the Mirror – The Haunting of Bly Manor
Flanagan’s Chasing Bly Manor is filled with ghosts, both seen and unseen. The miniseries is based on the novella The turn of the screw by Henry James. Dani Clayton, played by Victoria Pedretti, a young au pair, takes a job on a remote country estate. Shortly after her arrival, she begins to notice that the grounds are full of ghosts, but it also appears that she has brought one of her own. The first reveal of the man with the glowing eyes serves as a minor startle, mainly because of Dani’s shrill scream. However, as the story unfolds, it is revealed that the man is Eddie O’Mara (played by Roby Attal), Dani’s ex-fiancée who was killed in a car accident. Dani blames himself for Eddie’s death because he only got out of the car to pull out of an argument they had. Like most of Flanagan’s ghosts, Eddie is a representation of Dani’s guilt she carried with her since Eddie’s death.
2/6 Human Spider – Black Mirror, “Playtest”
black mirror has been compared to a modern day twilight zone, implementing technology as the main source of the series’ sci-fi. Season three’s second epidote, titled “Playtest,” will stay with you long after you’ve seen it. It will settle into your core and make you wonder what your deepest fears are. Cooper (played by Wyatt Russell) is an American travel enthusiast who finds himself trapped in London after his bank account is hacked and his savings account emptied. For money, Cooper agrees to volunteer for an augmented reality gaming experiment, and agrees to try out a horror game that triggers your worst fears. One of the scariest elements of the episode, aside from the incredibly grim ending, is the human-faced spider that turns up unexpectedly at Cooper.
1/6 The Bent Neck Lady – The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House is easily one of the scariest horror TV shows you can stream on Netflix. Flanagan’s family drama packs a punch when it comes to ghosts and shocking images, as it references a novel of the same name. The miniseries divides the story between modern times and flashbacks, showing the now-adults as children during the years they lived in a haunted house. Obviously, each of them grew up with a lot of trauma to trudge through, but the one who seems to be most haunted visually is the youngest, Eleanor (played by Pedretti). Eleanor is haunted by images, both in her childhood and in her adult life, of a woman with a bent, twisted neck. One of the biggest scares in the first season comes when Eleanor wakes up on the couch and the woman floats above her. The revelation of who the woman is is almost more terrifying than the statue itself.