One strong and divisive trope within the horror genre is, of course, the jump scare. This is a technique found in horror films designed to startle the audience via a sudden change in the visuals of the film, usually accompanied with a loud sound effect or music. Think of scenes where a ghost suddenly appears onscreen, or someone suddenly knocks on a door or window. Sometimes these scares are related to the villain/evil within the film, and sometimes they're really just a falsely sinister scare just to wake up the audience.
While they can make a film a lot of fun to watch, and add to the scares, they're also sometimes seen as kind of cheap. For that reason, jump scare heavy horror films are generally thought as "lesser than" in quality when it comes to films that don't use that technique. Some people with high anxiety or any other mental health issues, also just really struggle to watch a jump scare heavy film because they can be triggering. Luckily for people who struggle with that, there's a website called Where's The Jump.
Where's The Jump measures both the quantity and quality of jump scares found in horror films. They also break down the severity of jump scares into major and minor, and provide lists of highest jump scare counts by genre and year. It's a great resource if this is something that would be a big issue to a film viewer, specifically someone wanting to watch horror films but wishing to avoid jump scares. Looking at some of the lists Where's The Jump provides, they can tell a user specifically what film holds the top spot in terms of amount of jump scares. It's kind of a random one that probably isn't thought about too much, and to no one's surprise it also holds very low ratings.
The film is The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, which came out in 2013. It tells the story of a real family, though it's only very loosely based on their true experiences, who moved to a home in Georgia and experienced hauntings of its previous inhabitants. Though they of course share a name and are technically part of the same series, it has absolutely nothing to do with the first The Haunting in Connecticut film. The Haunting in Connecticut 2 clocks in at a whopping 32 jump scares, while its predecessor comes in seventh place with 26 jump scares. Neither of these films is all that great. They aren't the worst ever, but they're a little silly and convoluted as well as quite long and boring. Of course, they are also very jump scare heavy.
The first thing that's dumb about The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia is its name. Connecticut does not play a part in this movie in the slightest, and having both Connecticut and Georgia in the title gets things off to a very confusing start. Yes, it's to capitalize on a moderately successful name in hopes of this film having success too. The execution of this though felt very weird, and giving it its own title and its own release probably would have resulted in better success, as this film is not successful really at all. These movies are not connected, should never been part of the same series, and the title is a great indicator of this.
While the title is bad, that really is just a cheeky and nit-picky detail. The main problem with this film was the story. The mother character within the central family, as well as the daughter, are plagued with visions and can essentially see ghosts. In their new home, this is very prevalent and dark. As the story unfolds, which is very made up and has nothing to do with the real people involved in this case, it becomes quite convoluted and overly sinister for the sake of easy shocks. It's gruesome and genuinely scary so some of the plot points here are very intense, but it also verges on disrespectful to the Black community and the issue of slavery. While it's not outwardly offensive maybe, something about watching it just feels kind of wrong and exploitative of the real horrors that happened.
Though the story here is very scary, and of course the film is full of jump scares, the movie is in general not memorable. While an underwhelming film as a whole, the first The Haunting in Connecticut has at least some great scares. Its sequel just doesn't deliver and ends up very meh. Almost none of the jump scares are effective in even getting a startle and the film as a whole just doesn't really stick with the audience. This isn't due to lack of effort on part of the actors. While not amazing, they are the best part of the movie and it's a pretty well-known cast with names like Chad Michael Murray, Katee Sackhoff and even Cicely Tyson.
Jump scares have always been very divisive among horror lovers. The fact that the film with the most jump scares, as well as many others on the "Most Jump Scares" list, is lacking in quality isn't a point in their favor. That being said, they will always have their place and some jump scares are genuinely very well done and effective. They will also probably always be a staple within the horror genre, and continue to produce some great startles.