10 Most Terrifying Jump Scares In Recent Horror Movies
9. Don't Go Upstairs - The Black Phone (2022)
Based on the short story of the same name by Joe Hill, The Black Phone sees a smalltown neighbourhood in 1970s Denver terrorised by a masked child killer known as The Grabber, who’s played pitch-perfectly by a menacing Ethan Hawke.
After his friend is abducted, bullied youngster Finney (Mason Thames) becomes The Grabber’s latest victim when he’s thrown into the back of a black van. Waking up sometime later, he finds himself locked in a grimy basement. Help comes in the form of the killer’s previous victims, who speak to him through an old, disconnected phone hanging on one of the walls.
Finney is startled the first time he talks to one of the dead children. However, his anxious looks around the dim basement confirm that he’s completely alone. When the phone rings for a second time, viewers subsequently believe they know what to expect.
As the camera follows Finney as he moves away from the phone, the sudden appearance of the dead boy who's on the other end of the phone was the last thing that audiences saw coming (unless they've seen the trailer).