Our 13 favorite TV jump scares

Gear up for gasps courtesy of Twin Peaks, The Walking Dead, all things Mike Flanagan, and more

By Saloni Gajjar, Emma Keates, Matt Schimkowitz, Cindy White | October 23, 2023 | 3:00pm

TV Lists Saloni Gajjar

From left: Stranger Things (Netflix); Twin Peaks (Showtime); The Haunting Of Hill House (Netflix) Graphic: Karl Gustafson

Jump scares are an essential part of any horror TV show. They can range from being genuinely terrifying to somewhat comical, and the truly great ones are usually unforgettable, causing you to almost stop breathing when they hit. So, to celebrate the spooky season, A.V. Club staffers decided to sound off on their favorite jump scares throughout TV history. Here are our picks, covering frights from the ’60s to today, running in chronological order.

The Twilight Zone: Robert sees a gremlin (season 5, episode 3)

The Twilight Zone (Classic): Nightmare At 20,000 Feet - There’s A Man Out There

“Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” is a classic episode. The show, of course, excelled at playing twisted mind games and delving into psychological horror. So it was always nice when there was a real jump scare to catch you off guard, a feat this season-five episode accomplished beautifully. William Shatner plays Robert Wilson, who is flying on an airplane with his wife, but only he seems to be aware of a tiny little fact: There’s a gremlin outside the window. No one else can spot him, so is Robert just losing his mind? The episode unwinds the truth slowly, but the jump scare comes when Robert gets up close to the window to peer out, and the creature is also pressed up against it from the outside. It definitely, decades after originally airing, caused a young me to forgot to breathe. [Saloni Gajjar]

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