10 Best Jump Scares In Sci-Fi Movie History

In writer-director Trey Edward Shults’ slow-burn post-apocalyptic nightmare It Comes At Night, the terror is rooted in the paranoia felt by two families who find themselves in the same dire situation. Though jump scares are a rare occurrence here, when they do happen they make a lasting (and downright unnerving) impression.

One such moment happens during one of Travis’s (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) many nightmares. In it, he wakes from another dream in which he followed the sounds of his dog’s agonising yelps in the dark forest to an unseen, snarling monstrosity. Though we’re now away from the suffocating darkness outside, we’re far from safety.

Travis vomits black liquid and notices his arms are covered in sores. These are the symptoms of the sickness that's annihilated humanity. His eyes widen in terror, but we soon realise that he’s looking at something else - something whose rasping breath creeps into focus.

A reverse shot reveals his dead grandfather covered in the same sores. He stares into the camera, black goo dripping from his mouth, until the tension is finally broken when he lets out an inhuman scream.

Travis's nightmare may be over, but this image will be haunting ours for the foreseeable future.