Horror sub-genres are nice and clearly defined. Slashers, found footage, chillers, torture porn; they're all Ronseal names that provided some great movies in their time. Although over time they've given birth to a trope that has become so dominant in recent years it's basically its own thing. Ain't nothing wrong with a good jump scare. Something suddenly popping on screen in the cinematic equivalent of a ghost train can provide some of the most intense shocks in horror. But when a film is built around it, making it a dominating presence in the same way gore is in slashers, it doesn't work on a very intrinsic level. You see, Jump scares alleviate tension. A film's amping up and... BOO. Quick jolt and then the audience laughs. That's the natural response and ends up meaning there can't be any prolonged terror; every jump scare resets the horror quotient to zero. And yet whole movies hinge of this whole idea. The worst case is when a perfectly good movie is turned into this. The Woman In Black could have been a genuinely terrifying chiller, but by playing a sharp note every time the titular ghost appeared any overarching fear was destroyed in one quick jolt.
