10 Most Shocking Jump Cuts In Film History
10. Samara Kills Noah - The Ring
It's fair to say that American horror films have a tendency to rely on lazy jump scares, created by way of quick-cut images and loud sound effects, and that typically goes double for cynical state-side remakes of foreign language horror hits.
But Gore Verbinski's surprisingly stylish and moody 2002 remake of The Ring makes clever use of jump cuts during a pivotal climactic scene to fully hammer home the terror of the film's spectral, black-haired antagonist Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase).
After protagonist Rachel (Naomi Watts) learns that her ex-boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson) is about to be slain by Samara, the scene cuts to Samara emerging from Noah's TV and stalking him.
Ingeniously, Gerbinski has Samara, still flashing with TV static, literally "jump cut" in front of Noah, startling him and causing him to fall over.
And when it comes to the horrifying moment where she murders Noah, Verbinski makes use of three rapid-fire jump cuts into Samara's cloudy eye, ensuring the audience feels the same fear that Noah himself does.
After an entire film's worth of surprisingly subtle build-up, it's a fantastically creative and terrifying payoff that couldn't be further from the basement-low expectations U.S. horror remakes generally invite.