If you don't do the suspense correctly, then your jump scares are not going to work.

I use myself as the barometer to gauge what is scary. I like to think if something scares me, then there's a very good chance an audience will feel the same way.

It's very difficult to get an audience to be terrified of what's going on. Think about it: You're in a room with so many other people, so for them to be terrified and to care about what's going on on-screen takes a lot of work.

If you care about the characters, then whatever scary thing happens to them, you feel it even more.

If you come down to it, there's only a handful of worlds that action films live in. You have your car chases, your gun fights, and your fights.

The key is to constantly keep the audience surprised. If they feel like something is going to happen, or they think from an educational standpoint that something is about to happen because of all the moving parts, it is your job to break that expectation and show the audience something different.