Fans of horror flicks who need to choose their “favorite” film of all time might have a hard time choosing across the entirety of the genre’s masterpieces, alongside the presence of popular choices among sub-genres and sleeper hits among indie creators. However, if there’s any common factor that makes a fan decide whether a horror film will be up in their favorites, it’ll most likely be the opening scene.
It’s the opening scene in a horror movie that forms the overall first impression someone will have towards the entirety of the film. And thankfully, some movies just do their opening scenes so masterfully well that they remain etched in the consciousness of fans until today. Just which horror movies have the best opening scenes?
8 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Sometimes, it’s the idea of what may or may not have happened that can strike true horror in the hearts of fans, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does this perfectly with its opening sequence. While there isn’t much that “happens”, what does occur is a text scroll that reveals the film “may or may not have” been based on real events. What follows next are camera flashes and then brutal imagery of what has occurred in relation to these events.
Despite not revealing a lot regarding the characters and the plot, this opening sequence is extremely effective in creating an unnerving setup for viewers of the film. As they continue the viewing experience, they see for themselves that the disturbing text and imagery they’ve read is far mundane compared to the brutality that lies ahead.
7 Jaws (1975)
While some would think of Jaws as more of an entertaining horror flick, its opening scene may be one of the most horrifying in the genre's history. It begins as Chrissie is having a leisurely nighttime swim when something brushes below her feet. It’s soon revealed that a Great White shark is stalking her, forcing the young swimmer to find a way to outpace the sea creature. She fails, however, as the Great White eventually subdues her.
Unlike other horror movie openers, Jaws quickly reveals the “suffocating” nature of its premise – that of people being helpless in the middle of the sea, essentially an endless territory of its main villain, a Great White Shark. The threat of a killer shark below deep waters has easily become the stuff of legend thanks to the Jaws franchise, and this scene definitely helped cement the urban legend.
6 The Hitcher (1986)
While hitchhiking is a frowned upon practice nowadays due to safety concerns, it’s The Hitcher that perhaps ultimately struck the fear home. The film begins when a young man driving on a rainy highway picks up a hitchhiker who calls himself John Ryder. Things quickly escalate into a dangerous situation as John Ryder forces the young man to pass a stranded car, with Ryder telling him he’s already killed the passengers inside and would do the same to him. Given the chance, the young man pushes Ryder out of the moving vehicle, and only to see him in another family car moments later.
It’s easy to feel unnerved throughout the opening scene, especially considering how the film is spent with the young man, known as Jim Halsey, trying to get home through a rainy day with a murderer hitchhiker on the loose. After all, this can happen to anyone, especially in the '80s when hitchhiking was still a popular practice.
5 Cube (1997)
It’s one thing to be trapped in an unknown building and having to fight for one’s life compared to being trapped in a massive cube-shaped room. In Cube, such is the case, this time with its victims trapped in a cube-shaped room that has four hatches, one in each direction, that lead into yet more cube-shaped room. The catch here is that each cube room may or may not have a death trap. And no one knows exactly how many cube rooms exist.
All of these horrors are depicted easily in the first three minutes of the film, where a prisoner proves there might be a way to survive the horrors of a cube after all: testing each room with a boot or a part of his overalls. Unfortunately, as the end of the sequence shows, even this prisoner’s quick wit didn’t help him survive one of the cube’s traps. So what other horrors await when a group of survivors need to work together to survive?
4 Saw (2004)
When it comes to death traps, the Saw franchise easily takes the cake with its roster of brutal death games that almost always end up killing their players. This is made evidently clear in the opening sequence of the first film, when photographer Adam Stanheight wakes up with oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon, both chained on their feet across two parts of a large bathroom. When they play a microcassette recorder from a nearby corpse, it’s revealed that they’re trapped in a death game by the Jigsaw Killer, a serial killer that “tests” its victims’ will to survive.
Their test this time was simple – the microcassette encourages Adam to survive, while Gordon is told to kill Adam or his wife and daughter would be killed instead. They find two hacksaws that they soon realize are for their feet. This revelation easily shows what the Saw film – and the Saw franchise – was easily about, and it’s this horrifying reality that sets the tone of the film.
3 Scream (1996)
When it comes to slasher films, Scream is easily one of the first film franchises to come to mind. Aside from the iconic ghost mask of Ghostface, it’s the idea of a neighborhood killer that easily makes the film horrifying. Drew Barrymore’s iconic performance in the first scene helped Scream set a mark in horror cinema.
In a homage to When A Stranger Calls, Casey Becker is spending some quality time at home alone when she receives a mysterious phone call from an unknown person. What starts as a flirty call slowly progresses into a threat to her life, with the caller eventually forcing her to answer questions about horror films. When she answers incorrectly, Ghostface emerges and kills her mercilessly, with Casey’s scream being the last thing heard before the film finally begins its first act.
2 28 Weeks Later (2007)
Sometimes, the best opening sequences in horror films are ones that head straight into the terror. Whereas 28 Days Later opens in an empty London, 28 Weeks Later starts in a rather mundane house in the outskirts of London that is inhabited by six survivors. When one of them takes pity on a boy and lets him inside, they soon realize that he’s followed by those infected by the Rage Virus, causing chaos that would leave all but one of the survivors alive.
And even then, protagonist Don does not make it out easily. He manages to narrowly escape a horde of infected by getting on a boat, fighting infected even as he tries to get into safety. Accompanied by a somber track, the idea of being forced to choose between saving yourself or not leaving family and friends behind is easily a harsh theme explored by this opening.
1 Final Destination 2 (2003)
It’s one thing for a horror film to create an unforgettable opener that is the equivalent of an artistic masterpiece, and another for a film to create an unforgettable opener because of the sheer sense of realistic dread it provides. Such was the case of Final Destination 2, the sequel to the first Final Destination film, which proves that death always finds a way to hunt down people whose time is up.
While the first Final Destination film centered on a plane, Final Destination 2 opens a year after the events of the first film. Kimberly Corman is driving to Daytona Beach when she has a premonition of a fatal pile-up, courtesy of a logging truck. When Kimberly stalls her car and deliberately causes a jam, the accident happens anyway, but with no victims. While the film depicts death chasing the survivors of the supposed accident, this opening scene can cause anyone to feel unnerved whenever they end up behind a truck carrying piles of anything remotely resembling a pole.