Netflix’s ‘The Midnight Club’ breaks jump scare record

CNN
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Jump scare haters, beware of Netflix’s new series “The Midnight Club.”

The show, a horror mystery-thriller that debuted on October 7, has broken a world record for its plethora of jump scares, according to a news release from Guinness World Records.

A jump scare describes the classic horror movie trope when a moment of tranquility is interrupted by a loud noise or a lightning-fast cut intended to make a viewer jump with surprise or fear. Think of Jason Voorhees jumping out of the water at the end of the 1980 classic “Friday the 13th.”

The first episode of “The Midnight Club” broke the record for the most scripted jump scares in a single television episode, the news release says. The episode features a bone-chilling 21 jump scares.

The show’s creator, Mike Flanagan, joked that he wanted to break the record as a response to producers who continually asked him to add in more jump scares, despite his wishes, according to the release.

The horror series is based on a 1994 novel by Christopher Pike and tells the story of eight teenagers with terminal illnesses. Set in a strange hospice in the 1990s, the teens start meeting up at late night to swap disturbing and supernatural stories.