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The lifeblood of any horror movie is its ability to conjure simmering suspense and outbursts of sheer terror all while delivering an intriguing story. In this pursuit, not a second of screen time can be wasted. Opening scenes are of paramount importance in this regard as they introduce viewers to the tone and style of the movie. Many horror movies take a reserved and calculated approach, be it the immersive sci-fi world-building of Alien, the creeping isolation of the opening moments of movies like The Thing and The Shining, or even the stylistic allure of the start of Suspiria.
Other horror movies elect to open with a bang, jolting audiences from the outset with scenes that present visceral tension and terror, many of which have come to be viewed as masterpieces of horror filmmaking in their own right. Many of the scenes featured in this list preceded defining triumphs of the genre, while some others stand as memorable highlights in otherwise unmemorable movies. Regardless of the quality of the film that followed, these 10 opening scenes are the most pristine and perfect that horror cinema has ever been treated to.
10
‘Halloween’ (1978)
Simple is effective. That is the governing rule of Halloween’s opening scene, which runs as a continuous point-of-view shot showing someone entering a suburban house, spying on two teenagers, donning a mask, grabbing a kitchen knife, and murdering the unsuspecting teenage girl before leaving the house. As the killer is confronted by the returning homeowners, it is revealed that he is a six-year-old boy and that the girl he slaughtered is his sister.
The shocking evil of the revelation is given tremendous impact by the tension John Carpenter builds throughout the whole scene. Its voyeuristic long take is unsettling and invasive, forcing viewers to witness a murder through the unfeeling eyes of the killer before exposing the morbid truth of whom the culprit is. The opening of Halloween is nothing short of a technical marvel, one that uses only camera movements, steady pacing, and the familiarity of the ordinary suburban setting to conjure what is not only a frightful horror movie intro, but a pioneering triumph of slasher cinema at large.
9
‘The Ring’ (2002)
The start of The Ring is almost unassuming at the very beginning. Its depiction of two teenage girls discussing a macabre urban legend about a videotape that curses those who watch initially feels formulaic and clichéd. However, just when viewers might be considering dismissing the movie, it ratchets up the terror with clinical horror filmmaking that evokes a sense of damning psychological dread and chilling atmospheric suspense while illustrating the rules of the deadly tape in excruciating detail and leaving no mystery as to the fate that befalls those afflicted with its curse.
Director Gore Verbinski uses so many technical resources to make the scene so impactful that it is a masterclass in horror filmmaking in itself. Teasing the lurking evil with subtle glimpses and an unseen force, all while steeping the scene in a cold aesthetic of blues and greens makes for an imposing visual experience. The sound design is similarly subdued but effective, making the most of the ambience of a humming refrigerator, soft rain, and, of course, television static rather than jolting viewers with eruptions of loud noise or overbearing music. The dialogue, pacing, and cozy intimacy of the scene are all in play as well, as is that final, heart-stopping glimpse of Katie’s (Amber Tamblyn) twisted face after she has been killed.
8
‘Sinister’ (2012)
Following a struggling true crime writer who moves his family into a house with a horrific history to research its past for a new book, only to find himself and his family embroiled in the lurking evil, Sinister is often heralded as being among the most terrifying horror movies ever made. It wastes no time in establishing an air of grimy and relentless dread, brilliantly creating an immediate and imposing atmosphere of striking, simmering fear while addressing the movie’s central mystery of the house’s haunted backstory.
A cold open that truly makes the blood run cold, the first minute of Sinister snatches the audience’s attention by showing grainy Super 8 footage of a family being hanged from a tree. Bereft of sound aside from a chilling distorted static, and illustrating in no uncertain terms that this is a movie where even children can be slain, Sinister begins by declaring that no one is safe and that its tone will be unflinching and visceral from the outset. It is realistic, voyeuristic, and almost intensely intimate, and it has come to be celebrated by horror fans the world over as one of the most effective and unsettling opening scenes the genre has ever seen.
7
‘The Empty Man’ (2020)
Released in 2020, The Empty Man has garnered much of its appreciation and reputation in the horror community, specifically from its opening scene. It starts with what is effectively a 20-minute prologue, an isolated story in its own right introducing viewers to the mysticism and power of the titular evil. The first few minutes are enough to make an immediate and lasting impression, depicting a hiker being detached from his small group as he is lured into a crevice and later discovered by his friend in a stupefied, almost catatonic state standing before a gigantic humanoid skeleton embedded in the cave wall.
While the remainder of the film is largely a procession of formulaic horror punctuated by glimpses of inspired brilliance, the opening scene is the epitome of cosmic terror at its petrifying best. Its imagery is simple but terrifying, its tone eerie and harrowing, and it strikes a faultless balance between establishing an enigmatic air of mythos and making viewers acutely aware of the sinister power the empty man wields. It is a sequence of blood-curdling dread that perfectly establishes the rules of the monster while capturing a ferocious sense of Eldritch horror.
6
‘It Follows’ (2014)
It is so often the case in horror that nothing is as terrifying as mystery and urgent suspense. It Follows delivers one of the most petrifying opening scenes by leaning heavily into these two elements. Its idea is another case of simplicity being exceptional, with the first shot focusing on a young woman running out of her house and around her street in a state of inconsolable panic as she is chased by an unseen force. Followed by a sequence of her accepting her fate on a beach, then abruptly cutting to her mutilated body in the early hours of the morning, It Follows is a masterclass in how to begin a horror movie.
Just examining that very first scene, the long take of the girl running around her house, it is an expertly crafted shot of haunting mystery and atmospheric dread. The slow 360° pan conjures a palpable sense of paranoia, while Bailey Spry’s performance captures an air of manic, hysterical terror that audiences can’t help but be struck by. Engrossing in its own right while also introducing viewers to the nightmarish atmosphere of the movie and the relentless, unseen horror of the villain, It Follows holds one of the most effective horror movie openings of all time.
5
‘Ghost Ship’ (2002)
While the idea of combining elements of haunted house horror with the sense of isolation and inescapability of the setting of an abandoned ship is intriguing, Ghost Ship largely dawdles along as a formulaic and unrewarding scary movie. The exception is the film’s incredible opening, a prologue of sorts that shows the bizarre chain of events that led to the transatlantic liner Antonia Graza going missing in 1962 with all of its crew and passengers deceased.
Featuring a dance party on the deck devolving into a nightmarish tragedy when a coiled steel cord snaps, slashing through the celebrations and bisecting everyone aboard save for a little girl not tall enough to be collected by the cable, Ghost Ship’s opening is one of beautifully crafted suspense and sudden shock value. Propped up by its unique cinematography, razor-sharp exposition of key information, and its eerie contrast between luxury and gruesome violence, the start of Ghost Ship has come to be regarded as one of the greatest moments in 21st century horror even if much of the movie that followed has been forgotten.
4
’28 Weeks Later’ (2007)
Had the opening of 28 Weeks Later been released as a 10-minute film in isolation, it would probably be viewed as one of the best horror shorts of all time. That isn’t to say that the film that precedes it is terrible, but it never gets close to recapturing the suspenseful brilliance and the edge-of-your-seat intensity that has made the opening sequence such a celebrated moment of modern horror cinema.
With the “Rage” virus effectively turning all of England into zombies, 28 Weeks Later opens with a small group of survivors taking refuge in a cottage in the countryside, but their serene seclusion is soon decimated when a horde of infected besiege the homestead and break down its frail defenses. As the quiet containment erupts into a ferocious cacophony of brutality, Don (Robert Carlisle) is forced to make an impossible decision. Relentlessly intense, the sequence is an exhausting depiction of frenzied violence, desperate survival, and confronting morality that epitomizes the grueling allure of zombie horror at its visceral, heart-pounding best.
3
‘Midsommar’ (2018)
So many great horror movies have perfected their first scene by opening with a sequence of shocking terror and both confounds and captivates the viewer. While the start of Midsommar is no less enrapturing than any of these great introductory scenes, it does find its brilliance through a different approach. Phone calls between Dani (Florence Pugh), worried about her sister’s distressing messages, and her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor), who is clearly looking for a way to end the relationship, paint a fascinating character dynamic that then slips into an air of deeply upsetting drama when it is revealed that Dani’s sister has carried out a murder-suicide on hers and Dani’s parents.
While the looming shot depicting how the killings were carried out is certainly confronting, Midsommar anchors its opening scene in feelings of pressing psychological substance and raw human drama rather than supernatural suspense or shock horror. Not only is it one of the most disturbing and viscerally rattling opening scenes in horror history, it masterfully creates an atmosphere of dread and weighted dramatic tension that lingers throughout the rest of the 147-minute-long movie.
2
‘Jaws’ (1975)
Few opening scenes in the history of cinema have been as iconic and impactful as the start of Steven Spielberg’s star-making horror masterpiece, Jaws. The film famously made the holiday act of going to the beach on a sunny day a nightmarish prospect, and much of that sense of terror is established in its very first minutes, which stand as a masterclass in cinematic suspense. Breaking away from their friends, two teenagers run towards the water to go for a late-night swim. As the boy drunkenly fumbles to undress, and eventually passes out on the shore, the girl ventures into the water where she is dragged under the surface by an unseen force.
The idea is simple, but the filmmaking is astounding. Complemented by John Williams’s heart-pounding score, Spielberg crafts a sequence of unbearable suspense through his use of effective point-of-view shots, the contrast between the frenzied panic of the woman’s attack and the oblivious serenity of her friends on the beach, and the quick, undetectable nature of the shark’s attack. Audiences see very little in the way of blood and carnage, but the moment the girl is dragged under the water—and the calmness of the ocean surface immediately after—is profoundly chilling.
1
‘Scream’ (1996)
Standing not only as the greatest opening scene in horror movie history, but as one of the most iconic moments the genre has ever seen as well, Scream sees Wes Craven launch into the slasher suspense from the outset. Home alone, Casey (Drew Barrymore) is cooking popcorn and getting ready to watch a movie when the phone rings. While her chat with the unknown caller is initially innocent and playful, the conversation gradually turns sinister, leading to a blood-curdling revelation that she is being targeted by an at-large killer. When the murderer attacks, a frenetic fight for survival breaks out before Casey is slain, with the killer leaving her disemboweled corpse to be found by her parents.
Scream has long been celebrated as a rare example of a movie that parodies a genre while perfecting it. That delicate balance is evident in the opening scene with its ability to combine meta commentary, horror movie references, and wry comedy with pulsating suspense and a shocking outburst of violence that sees the movie’s major star killed off in the opening minutes. It marks the definitive kill in the history of slasher cinema as well as one of the most expertly crafted scenes in horror movie history.
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Ryan Heffernan
Almontather Rassoul
