This Horror Film Is Interrupting YouTube Videos And It's Terrifying

I hate to break it to you, kids, but YouTube is no longer safe. Those untimely ads are already a killer (who wants to be interrupted by the realities of car insurance just before watching the "God Is A Woman" music video?) but this new advertising strategy may actually make you cry. According to a tweet that is currently going viral, the latest horror flick in the Conjuring universe, The Nun, is adding jump-scares to your YouTube experience.

Nope, it is not okay.

"WARNING! If you see an ad on youtube with the volume sign being turned down and nothing else, ITS A JUMPSCARE for the new NUN movie coming out. I advise you look away and/or turn down the volume if you have anxiety or just straight up hate jumpscares, pls rt to save a life," tweeted user @bbydvas.

For the uninitiated, a "jump-scare" is when something uses loud noises in combination with scary imagery to illicit a fearful reaction — often, someone jumping out of their seat. Consider it the digital version of your young sibling jumping out from behind a table and shouting "BOO!", and legitimately being terrified.

I'm a horror fan — the scarier the movie, the more likely I'll line up to see it opening weekend — but if there is one thing I am not cool with, it's jump-scares on YouTube videos. I was a child of the early aughts, and I have been burned one too many times by friends who wanted to show me a "really cool new video they found." It took me a good decade to stop scanning through videos, hoping to catch the monster that would pop out before I actually agreed to click play.

It's one thing to go into a horror movie, prepared to be scared, and another to want to watch a Carpool Karaoke clip only to end up scaring your dog after screaming a little too loudly. Representation for Warner Brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While jump-scares are not my favourite thing, I am pretty stoked for The Nun in general — if only for its amazing origin story. Not familiar with it? Allow me to fill you in: "The Nun" first showed up in Annabelle: Creation, itself a spin-off of The Conjuring. However, while the doll at the centre of Annabelle is based on real-life lore, the titular character in The Nun was actually created last minute. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the black-and-white nun (portrayed by Bonnie Aarons) was not incorporated into the film until three months prior to Annabelle: Creation's release, during reshoots. Shortly after Creation's release, The Nun (also known as the demon Valak) proved scary enough to warrant her own spin-off.

The Nun could already be one of the most chilling characters depicted in modern horror, so do we really need a bunch of jump-scares to prove her presence is effective? I'll be watching YouTube videos with the volume way, way down until The Nun's marketing campaign subsides.