# Biggest "Made you jump out of your seat" moment in a movie. \*Possible SPOLIERS\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040 "2005-07-31T21:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/41 "2005-08-01T17:24:29Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned **Friday the 13th**. I don’t even have to describe the scene. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/42 "2005-08-01T22:52:46Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > The jump moment I’m talking about is not during the famed final sequence. If you recall, the movie starts off and proceeds along fairly normally. You’ve met the guy and see what his plan is for getting a date. You’ve met the girl, seems a liitle shy but nothing really off-kilter about her. Seems sortof sweet, actually. THEN, you get the scene that marks the transition (i.e., descent into hell): Ah, gotcha. I didn’t remember that one as startling because the movie had been semi-spoiled for me already when I saw it, since I knew going in that it was a horror movie. Up to that point, I was just waiting for it to all go south, so wasn’t surprised when it actually did. A friend told me she saw it at a theater, not knowing it was a horror movie, and the scenes from the girl’s apartment were a total shock. (She wasn’t as scarred by it as I was, though, since at random quiet moments she’ll start saying “kee kee kee kee kee” in a really high-pitched voice, knowing that the movie genuinely disturbed me and just the sound of it gives me the heebie-jeebies.) > [@divemaster](#): > > Before I go on I must say that I really hated this movie. I thought it was vile. You can show me anything, as long as the internal logic holds. But the guy was having flashbacks to things that there was no way he could have seen. Well, the first time I saw it, I didn’t perceive any of those as flashbacks but instead as visions. My initial take on the movie was that it was pointless horror all done for shock value, but [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235665) ( **note: thread has open unboxed spoilers for “Audition”** ) changed my mind. I still don’t _like_ it, and will never actually watch it again voluntarily, but at least I can see that it did have a higher message. And if you take that interpretation of it – that the main character was a misogynistic jerk who was casting for the role of an ideal woman instead of actually meeting someone and getting to know her – then the “flashbacks” make even more sense. He wasn’t remembering stuff that he’d witnessed, but he wasn’t having psychic/ghostly “visions” either. Instead, he was gradually piecing together the girl’s story, remembering bits he’d overheard from her or other people, but had ignored because of his own self-obsession, and finally realizing just how horrible the story really was. ---
**Author:** ![Baggins111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@Baggins111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggins111)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/43 "2005-08-02T02:14:24Z")
I’m with **fusoya** about the cat in Alien. What was his name? Jonesey? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/44 "2005-08-02T14:04:33Z")
From **Twilight Zone - The Movie** - “Want to see something _really_ scary?” ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/45 "2005-08-02T14:11:13Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > The end of **Carrie**! That is the reason we don’t let my mom hold the popcorn … we were watching that movie, and that moment came-- popcorn everywhere! I inherited my mom’s jumpiness, much to the delight of my SO. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/46 "2005-08-02T14:16:47Z")
For one of the guys I went to see **Aliens** with the second time, it would be the moment when the facehugger in the specimen jar suddenly jumps against the glass. In this case it was scarier, because the rat who’d seen it the previous night chose that exact moment to grab him near the floating ribs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/47 "2005-08-02T14:28:15Z")
My first thought was the end of _Carrie_ but my favourite “slump into your seat moment” was in _Monster’s Ball_ when Heath Ledger’s character kills himself. I didn’t even know he was in the movie and was settling in to the story when… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/48 "2005-08-02T17:46:21Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” > > And if I need to explain that one, well, I’m not going to, alright? The Head. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/49 "2005-08-02T18:51:54Z")
_Alien_…Dallas in the Jeffrey tubes… ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/50 "2005-08-02T19:17:57Z")
I saw _Jaws_ when it originally came out. In a theater in Florida. When the severed head rolled into view in the hole in the boat, everyone jumped (and screammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmed). A few rows ahead of me a bucket of popcorn flew up and almost hit the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/51 "2005-08-02T19:52:38Z")
Meet Joe Black: When Brad Pitts character (Joe Black) gets hit by the cars. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/52 "2005-08-02T20:28:05Z")
In _The Omen_ when… Gregory Peck was digging through his son’s hair, finds the “666” and that creepy satanic nurse lands on his back. A guy I worked with said the woman sitting behind him at the theater had obviously seen it before and at that point in the movie buried her fingernails into his back. He said he damn near flew into the screen. In _Predator_ when… Jesse Ventura is chasing something through the jungle and sees some little animal, smiles, says "It’s just a little _something_ and then WHAM! get his innards blown out by the Predator. I remember demoing our home theater for some friends and at that scene the wife screamed and red wine went everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/53 "2005-08-02T21:09:29Z")
In **Final Destination** when… Alex and the jerkish guy are arguing. The jerkish guys girlfriend loses it and backs away right into the path of a speeding bus. In **Arachnaphobia** Near the opening scene after they sprayed the tree with insecticide, all these critters start falling out of the tree. A guy taking pictures go’s to take a picture of a seemingly dead spider, only to have it jump right at him/the screen ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/54 "2005-08-02T22:24:24Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > In **Arachnaphobia** > > Near the opening scene after they sprayed the tree with insecticide, all these critters start falling out of the tree. A guy taking pictures go’s to take a picture of a seemingly dead spider, only to have it jump right at him/the screen Oh yeah, that was a major one too. That movie was shown, for some odd reason, in my 6th grade class (when I was in sixth grade, that is), and everyone jumped. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/55 "2005-08-02T22:29:13Z")
In **The Crying Game** , when Forrest Whittaker’s character gets run over by the tank of the rescuing British soldiers. I had come to like that character and thought he’d be there for the whole movie. It was completely unexpected and shocking - and it looked absolutely real. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/56 "2005-08-04T01:49:25Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > \*\*The Exorcist III \*\* (1990), starring George C. Scott and Brad Dourif: > > Night shift at the hospital. A nurse hears strange sounds. You know what’s going to happen next; everyone in the audience knows what’s going to happen next. But we don’t know exactly \*how or when \* it’s going to happen, and this is the first movie I remember seeing that actually played with this horror convention self-consciously, because the scene drags on longer than you can possibly imagine, and yet the tension keeps getting worse, because you _know_ something is going to happen, just because the scene hasn’t ended yet, and every second that something \*doesn’t \* happen means that whatever eventually \*does \* happen is going to be that much worse when it finally happens… Can you elaborate in a spoiler tag? I tried to find a good description of what happens online and can only get the vaguest hints, but it seems to be frequently mentioned as one of the best horror scenes ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mittens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@Mittens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mittens)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/57 "2005-08-04T08:46:36Z")
When Bilbo reached for the Ring in **Fellowship of the Ring**. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040/58 "2005-08-04T11:44:56Z")
**Mittens** Ha! For shivers, my son and I replayed the Bilbo scene over and over again. My big jumpy scene is from an old movie, **The Changeling.** (Based on a ‘true’ story that happened here in Denver.) We saw it in the theater years ago, and rent it every now and then. This movie gets a bit hokey at the end, but the buildup is very scary indeed. Trying for a new start, a man (George C Scott) looks into purchasing the proverbial haunted house. As he stands there deciding to buy it, a teeny-tiny window high on the third or fourth floor shatters into pieces. Many in the theater gasped and jumped in their seats, including my usually stoic, immovable object husband. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-made-you-jump-out-of-your-seat-moment-in-a-movie-possible-spoliers/315040.md?page=2)