I'm Terrified Of Jump Scares But I Went To Universal Halloween Horror Nights For The First Time Anyway, And Here's What Happened

Halloween Horror Nights is the marquee event of the year at both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood. I am somebody who loves theme parks, who has written about them professionally for a decade, and yet, until just recently, I had never attended the event.

I am not a serious horror fan the way a lot of people are, but I also don’t completely avoid the genre. I'm also not a massive Halloween fan, and don't love the way Halloween invades the summer at theme parks. I’m happy to take horror and Halloween when they come and leave them when they're gone. However, there is one particular part of horror, and of Halloween Horror Nights, that I have always had a problem with, and has been the single biggest reason I have actively avoided going in the past. I fucking hate jump scares.

My Fear Of Jump Scares Put Me Off Halloween Horror Nights

If there's a single reason I don't tend to seek out horror movies, it's not violence, it's not gore, it's jump scares. Jump scares are a horror movie trope that you can be all but assured will be part of most of them, and they get me every time. Every. Time.

I could be watching a movie I’ve seen before, and there’s still a decent chance that a jump scare I know is coming will still startle me. I’ve spilled more than one glass of red wine on my sofa while watching movies due to them, so my wife really doesn’t like the way jump scares get to me either. And it’s not just that the jump scares get the desired reaction out of me, it’s that it annoys the hell out of me when they do. I don't like the way I feel in that moment.

While I’d never been to Halloween Horror Nights before, one thing I knew was that it was going to be jump scare central. In the houses or in the scarezones, there would be real people, not even just characters on the screen, jumping out from dark corners and screaming at me. Experiencing that was just never something I wanted.

At the same time, everything else about this year's Halloween Horror Nights looked amazing. The design of the houses, the food, the lights, the party atmosphere, in places where the atmosphere wasn’t impeding doom. I’ve always wanted to experience that, and so after many years of avoiding HHN, it was finally time to face my fears.

Halloween Horror Nights Was Exactly What I Feared, And Yet, It Didn’t Bother Me

I won’t lie, I was a bit apprehensive when I walked into my first-ever HHN house, which happened to be Five Nights at Freddy’s, which finally debuted this year. Would something jump out at me in the dark, causing me to scream like a child in front of friends and strangers alike? Would I run away or throw myself against the opposite wall in terror? The first thing that absolutely happened. The rest, not so much.

Things did jump out at me, and I did, on occasion, tense up or flinch away from whatever it was in reflex. If I’d been carrying a drink, I might have even spilled it, but beyond that, I was surprised how little the jump scare moments really bothered me, even from the very beginning.

The thing is, unless you’re at the very front of a group walking through the house, there’s a decent chance you’re going to see the scareactors jumping out at somebody in front of you. Even if you don’t, it’s frequently, though not always, pretty clear where they’re hiding, so you know the jump is coming.

I also quickly figured out a couple of tricks to avoid jump scares entirely. There’s a sweet spot of timing you can often hit that allows you to see the scareactors jump out at somebody in front of you, but allows you to cross the space before they’re ready to jump out again. You can also sometimes avoid a jumpscare by simply ignoring it. Since the scareactors go to great pains not to actually touch anybody, if you’re not looking at them, then nothing happens.

But even when the jumpscare got me, and even when I jumped, for some reason, the experience felt very different. When a jumpscare startles me while watching a movie, I’ll often feel embarrassed, even if there’s nobody around to see, but when a jumpscare got me during Halloween Horror Nights, my default reaction was laughter.

HHN Engaged My Love For Themed Entertainment Design

One of the reasons I was so excited to attend Universal Studios’ Fan Fest Nights earlier this year is that it gave me a chance to attend something that was structurally like Halloween Horror Nights, but without the jump scares. I loved the event, and one of the reasons why was the incredible creativity on display. From the full Enterprise-D bridge to a Dungeons & Dragons Beholder from the Henson Creature Shop, there was some incredible work done.

The same was true with Halloween Horror Nights. The Henson Creature Shop is back, having designed the animated figures used in the Five Nights at Freddy’s House. They could have come right out of the Five Nights at Freddy's movie. In the Jason Un1v3se house, which celebrated the entire Friday the 13th franchise. I watched Jason tear the head off a helpless victim, only for the rest of the body to leap off the couch at me. In the Terrifier house, I saw some of the most incredible set pieces in order to create some of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen.

It was remarkable to see the work that went into creating true themed environments in what was still ultimately a temporary installation. I went so far as occasionally standing still after a jump scare moment to let it happen again, so I could get a better look at a character or a set piece.

I Still Prefer Fan Fest Nights, But I Will Be Returning To Halloween Horror Nights

Of the two events, Fan Fest Nights is still more my jam. Not just because of a lack of jump scares, but I prefer the more narratively driven experience. Star Trek: Red Alert and Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets of Waterdeep had focused narratives that made me feel like a part of the story. By comparison, HHN houses, while they have stories, were never fully explained. Sometimes they were easy to figure out, other times less so. Having now seen the scope and scale of Halloween Horror Nights, I am excited for the future of Fan Fest Nights and how big it has the potential to get.

However, having now attended my first Halloween Horror Nights, I can confidently say it won’t be my last. It’s everything fans have said it is, and even though I still hate jump scares, it turns out they don’t ruin the experience, and can actually be kind of fun.

I know I'm not the only one who hates jump scares. A lot of people are really bothered by them. If that's you, while I obviously can't promise that you'll have the same experience I did, it's worth considering. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think.