The Midnight Club, Mike Flanagan’s new horror series on Netflix, already has a Guinness World Record to its name: it has the most jump scares in a single episode of TV.
Flanagan is one of the most successful horror directors of the past decade. He’s directed movies like Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep, his incredible sequel to The Shining.
It’s the small screen where he’s really made his mark, terrifying millions of Netflix viewers with The Haunting of Hill House, and earning acclaim for The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass.
He’s back with The Midnight Club, a show aimed at a slightly younger audience – not that it isn’t jam-packed full of scares, and it’s got a Guinness World Record to prove it.
The Midnight Club has the Guinness World Record for most jump scares in one episode
The Midnight Club boasts a heart-racing 21 jump scares in one of its episodes.
Flanagan, who co-created the new series with Leah Fong, was presented with the Guinness World Record for the most scripted jump scares in a single television episode at Netflix’s New York base yesterday.
As per TV Insider, Flanagan said: “This is particularly important to me because I hate jump scares.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“My whole career, people have been like, put more jump scares in and do them faster. I hate them ’cause I feel like it’s very easy to walk up behind somebody and smash things.”
By adding in so many jump scares into a single episode, Flanagan said he hoped they’d be “rendered meaningless” and they’d “just destroy it and kill finally till it’s dead.”
“My whole career I completely sh*t on jump scares as a concept, and I wanted to make sure it was pinned to me, too, as much as it is to the show, to Netflix, and all of us who have inflicted this on everyone,” he continued.
“Now, I have my name in the Guinness Book of World Records for jump scares, which means next time I get the note, I can say, ‘You know, as the current world record holder for jump scares, I don’t think we need one here.'”
The synopsis for the show reads: “At a hospice for terminally ill young adults, eight patients come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories – and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond. Based on the 1994 novel of the same name as well as other works by Christopher Pike.”
The Midnight Club is streaming on Netflix now.
