If you were in the theater in 1967 as a 13 year old that dive for her ankle made everybody in the theater scream as one, and scream loud. I've seen other films that scared people, Psycho, The Exorcist, Alien, The Shining, but I've never heard EVERYONE scream at once like they did at WUD.
shareI think that must be the seminal surprise jump that started them all -- Glenn Close's jump out of the tub in Fatal Attraction and dozens of others.
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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.
I have just seen it. I'm glad that I didn't know about the jump beforehand - it did scare me! Even though I figured that Susie would make it out alive, the confrontation with Roat was still very tense.
shareWow, what a great story. The only other experience I've had like that is when I saw Panic Room in 2002, such a good film to watch with an audience back when there so few spoilers.
Back to this film, I rewatched it the other day and the jump is still very effective and obviously influential in later films. It's not just about the actual jump, though, for me it also worked because the Roat character was just so damn believable - I was hugely engrossed in the whole film but especially in that scene. Alan Arkin was super-good in that role.
Some great stories here. I just watched the movie for the first time, knowing very little about it beforehand. Yes, it was tense and the final stand-off with the Arkin character was powerful. I can't quite say the jump-scene made me jump or scream, perhaps I'm just too numb for that. But well done, anyway.
shareI jumped 3 times, the parking lot scene with Carlino, Mike in the doorway & Roat's dive.
shareIf you all think the movie scene is scary, you should have been with me, as a teenager, when I saw the original Broadway production. The theater went pitch black, and when Robert Duvall leapt out at Lee Remick, there was genuine pandemonium in the audience.
shareSaw the film at the National Portrait Gallery in London this evening where they have been having an exhibition of pictures of Audrey. Even though the pre-talk said that this film contained one of the most famous scares in film history, there were portions of the audience which visibly jumped. They also groaned when Richard Crenna was killed and clapped a little when Suzy started sprinkling the gasoline on Roat. Needless to say the film was applauded when it ended. Great nail biting stuff. I loved it!
shareI was just on another board, where people were discussing jump scares. The first thing that came to my mind was "Wait Until Dark!"
Like you and others, I saw it in a theater, when I was a teen. Never before or since have I been so scared by a scene. I didn't scream, but I did jump, along with the rest of the audience, and yes, there was a lot of involuntary screaming. Never experienced that before or since either.
Unlike most jump scares now, which are cheap and easy scares, this was so well and thoughtfully set up. That's why it was so effective.
You are absolutely right that the jump was so well set up. I was lucky enough to see this in a theater in 1967 when it came up. Even before the jump, I was sobbing in terror. I couldn't see a thing! Just the noises. So being a basket case already (when Hepburn hears the refrigerator running and realizes that she forgot one light made me nearly sick to my stomach), the jump was one of the most terrifying things I have ever experienced.
We went out to dinner afterwards, and my entire family was kind of limp -- all scared out.
I tossed the family cat out the bedroom window when I first saw it.
Just kidding, but I liked your story even though you're probably not even here anymore.
I can testify that people still jump at it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOQbX5YpcdE&feature=youtu.be