10 Most Shocking Jump Cuts In Horror Movie History

Jump cuts are nothing new in horror cinema. Even before Hitchcock used them in the likes of Psycho and The Birds, this editing trick was firmly established within the genre, with one of the most notable early examples appearing in monster movie classic Frankenstein.

Alongside Tod Browning’s Dracula, James Whale’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel stands as being one of the most iconic horror films ever made and has forever cemented Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the monster into the annals of cinema history.

Desiring to create human life, Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his assistant (Dwight Frye) cobble together various body parts from corpses and stitch them together. Despite procuring the wrong brain, their experiment is a success, and the Monster is brought to life. It’s here Karloff slowly backs into the laboratory before turning around for audiences to get their first look at his face.

And Whale makes sure viewers got a good look at Karloff in his makeup by using two jump cuts to get a close-up of the actor’s vacant expression.

The Monster’s design is still a striking sight today, so imagine how effective it would have been to see it on the big screen in the 1930s.