New horror series The Midnight Club may have only just released on Netflix, but it's already making entertainment history. The show's opener, titled 'The Final Chapter', is said to feature more jump scares than any episode of TV ever – 21, specifically – and it's bagged the Guinness World Record to prove it.
Created by Leah Fong and The Haunting of Hill House's Mike Flanagan, the outing is based on Christopher Pike's novel of the same name. It centers on a group of eight, terminally ill teens, who all live together at Brightcliffe Hospice. To "escape" their realities at the end-of-life facility, run by enigmatic doctor Georgina Stanton (A Nightmare on Elm Street's Heather Langenkamp), the youngsters meet every night at 12am to tell each other scary stories.
One night, they agree to a pact that insists the first of them to pass away must try to communicate with the others from beyond the grave. And sure enough, after one of them dies, inexplicable supernatural events start to occur. Flanagan's frequent collaborators Samantha Sloyan, Matt Biedel, and Zach Gilford star alongside Iman Benson, Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter, and Sauriyan Sapkota.
"I thought, 'We're going to do all of them at once, and then if we do it right, a jump scare will be rendered meaningless for the rest of the series.' It'll just destroy it. Kill it finally until it's dead, But that didn't happen. They were like, 'Great! More!'" Flanagan jokingly recalled (via Deadline).
"My whole career I completely shat 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. 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.'"
According to the publication, a representative for Guinness, adjudicator Andrew Glass, gave the certificate to Flanagan and his creative team at Netflix headquarters in New York City on Thursday, October 6.
The Midnight Club is available to stream now. If spooky stuff is not your bag, then check out our guide to the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
