Sleep is overrated anyway... Join us as we count down our picks for the most striking opening sequences that set the stage for some serious scares. From bloody massacres to terrifying monsters, these first minutes of horror films immediately grab viewers by the throat and don't let go. Which opening scene still gives you nightmares?
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00:00Well, I'm getting ready to watch a video.
00:02Really? What?
00:03Oh, just some scary movie.
00:05You like scary movies?
00:07Uh-huh.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most striking opening sequences
00:12that set the stage for some serious scares.
00:16I'm not supposed to take stuff to the strangers. My dad said so.
00:20Very wise of your dad, Georgie. Very wise indeed.
00:24Some of these contain spoilers.
00:27Number 10. Where is everyone?
00:2928 Days Later.
00:31Maybe we take for granted all of the hustle, bustle, and noise of our everyday lives.
00:35That's why the introduction to 28 Days Later is so frightening.
00:39There's no one.
00:42Hello!
00:46Well, at least at first.
00:48Cillian Murphy's gym awakes to the aftermath of an infectious outbreak
00:52caused by some short-sighted animal rights activists.
00:55The gyms are infected.
00:56Infected? They're highly contagious.
00:59They've been given an inhibitor.
01:01Infected with what?
01:02In order to cure, you must first understand.
01:04Infected with what?
01:06His initial sojourn out into London sees no survivors,
01:10although there's clear evidence that,
01:12to paraphrase some visual graffiti,
01:14the end seems to be extremely effing nigh.
01:19Jim eventually connects with other survivors like himself,
01:21but that opening scene was something else.
01:34Number 9. Twisted.
01:36It follows.
01:37Annie?
01:38What are you doing?
01:40I'm fine, Dad.
01:41The character of Annie Marshall admittedly doesn't have much of a lasting impact
01:55on the plot of It Follows after her initial appearance.
01:58However, what she does do is set the stage,
02:01outlining the stakes of what's about to be stalking Jay and her friends.
02:05Marshall's violent, twisted demise is also notable
02:08for containing a fatalistic phone call to her parents.
02:12Dad.
02:14I love you.
02:18I know.
02:19I know.
02:21I just wanted you and Mom to know how much I love you.
02:24The young woman's doom is closing in,
02:26and her tearful apology on the phone lends Marshall a fair amount of sympathy,
02:30even though we don't really know who she is.
02:32Oh, and the result of what happens when It catches up?
02:36Shocking, to be sure.
02:39I just really love you both.
02:42Number 8. Plane Crash.
02:44Final Destination.
02:45The epic disaster set piece is a key point of the Final Destination franchise,
02:49one that defines these films for many fans.
02:52I have to ask you a few questions this evening.
02:55You should pack your back yourself.
02:57Have your belongings remained in your possession the entire time?
03:02Mr. Browning?
03:05There have been a number of great ones too,
03:07but the crash of Flight 180 remains somewhat iconic.
03:11It set the rules of the franchise,
03:12how death cannot be cheated,
03:14and how no amount of prescience will stop those souls from being reaped.
03:19The actual crash, it feels more grounded and realistic than in future installments as well.
03:35This helps make it feel scarier, honestly,
03:38because it could potentially happen to any one of us.
03:41Alex, could you trade seats with Blake so she and I could sit together?
03:45She asked Tom, but he said he had some sort of medical thing.
03:48Number 7. Above the Line. Ghost Ship.
03:51It's truly a shame that 2002's Ghost Ship
03:53never quite lives up to the potential of its banger opening set piece.
03:57The flashback massacre of the MS Antonia Graza is gloriously bloody stuff,
04:16as a metal cable bisects an entire dance floor of people.
04:20The CGI effects are definitely of their time, but remain startlingly effective.
04:25Perhaps it's because Ghost Ship doesn't hide the horrible injuries
04:29suffered by its passengers in the aftermath of this tragedy.
04:32The cable snap incident only leaves one survivor,
04:36a little girl who is forced to watch how the ship's captain
04:38and many others suffer some truly horrible deaths.
04:49Number 6. Car Exhaust. Midsommar.
04:52You do, though, babes. You go straight to crisis mode.
04:56Well, she's my sister, and even you said that this email seemed different.
05:02Yeah, right, but...
05:03Is it, though, really?
05:06It's still just another obvious ploy for attention,
05:09just like every other panic attack she's given you.
05:11The subject of self-destruction can be difficult to show on screen,
05:15for a variety of reasons.
05:16The triggering effect from the opening of Midsommar
05:19feels palpable because of its realism.
05:21Additionally, Dani's stunned response to the news
05:24that her sister, Terry, has also taken out their parents via carbon monoxide
05:28doesn't feel exaggerated in the slightest.
05:30No, no, no...
05:33Instead, Midsommar opens things up in the darkness
05:42and pretty much stays there for the entirety of what follows
05:45this depressing set piece.
05:47In fact, we'd argue that the opening of Midsommar
05:50is more traumatising than its back-end occult madness.
05:535. A Quiet Place
06:04The Office star John Krasinski joined the ranks of Ari Aster,
06:07Jordan Peele, and Robert Eggers,
06:09lending a little prestige to the horror genre.
06:11That feeling of prestige certainly didn't mean that A Quiet Place
06:15was going to take it easy on its characters, of course.
06:18Beau Abbott is simply too young to understand the need for silence
06:22as his family prowls a post-apocalyptic landscape of monsters.
06:32This results in the small boy being distracted by a toy
06:35that winds up making noise.
06:48Krasinski's Lee Abbott can't make it to his son in time
06:50before Beau is taken by a death angel.
06:53It's heartbreaking and scary all at the same time.
07:054. Let's Play a Game
07:07Scream
07:08It was a scene that helped revitalise horror movies for the 90s,
07:27a meta-commentary on the genre that nevertheless retained some real scares.
07:31The opening demise of Casey Becker in Scream wasn't telegraphed by posters,
07:36advertising, or Drew Barrymore's press junket appearances.
07:39You never told me your name.
07:41Why do you want to know my name?
07:42Because I want to know who I'm looking at.
07:46What did you say?
07:48I want to know who I'm talking to.
07:51Instead, what audiences received was a Hitchcockian exercise in Bait and Switch,
07:56as Becker is massacred by Ghostface.
07:59The latter's cat-and-mouse phone call with Casey was the icing on the cake,
08:03a horror movie trope trivia came to life in a realistically bloody manner,
08:07and Scream fans never forgot that first time.
08:103. Poor Georgie
08:17It
08:17The SS Georgie will never sail again, and we'll honestly never be over it.
08:22It doesn't even matter that some of us grew up with Tim Curry as Pennywise,
08:26taking George Dembra to his doom.
08:28Aren't you going to say, hello?
08:32Oh, come on, mucko.
08:36Don't you want a balloon?
08:37This dancing clown was updated for a new generation in 2017 with It Chapter 1.
08:44Bill Skarsgård's ultra-violent and vicious attack on Georgie
08:47is bolstered by the creepy Pennywise make-up.
08:50Popcorn!
08:51Is that your favourite?
08:53Uh-huh.
08:54Mine too!
08:56Because they pop.
08:59Pop, pop, pop, pop.
09:01Pop, pop, pop.
09:02Skarsgård's own personal approach to the role
09:04lends the scene palpable tension and fear as well,
09:07enabling us to feel even worse for the young boy,
09:10as if that's even possible.
09:12Who's gonna kill you?
09:18You.
09:20Take it.
09:222. Michael Halloween
09:24John Carpenter wasn't the first director to utilise a POV shot
09:28when he helmed Halloween back in 1978.
09:30This opening scene did, however, help usher in a new golden age for the slasher film,
09:43an era where slicing and dicing teens was about to become big business.
09:47It's easy to forget, as a result, how smooth the camera work is here
09:51as we're given a glimpse into Michael Myers' first kill.
09:54The slow, methodical glide as we follow Myers picking up the knife,
09:58the tension as he climbs the stairs and enters his sister Judith's room.
10:03Michael!
10:05Carpenter's iconic score underlines it all,
10:07right on through to that final reveal,
10:09as the mask is removed and Michael's young face is uncovered.
10:14Michael?
10:14Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions.
10:24Finding a new identity.
10:26The stepfather.
10:27Terry O'Quinn's ice-cold reveal.
10:39Have you checked the children?
10:41When a stranger calls.
10:42The phone call that launched a thousand tropes.
10:50Have you checked the children?
10:52Robert, I don't think this is very funny.
10:54Undead Chaos.
10:55Dawn of the Dead.
10:56A fast-running, carnage-filled zombie upgrade.
10:59Vivian, honey.
11:01Sweetie, are you okay?
11:02Dread, personified.
11:13The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
11:15John Larroquette's iconic narration and that creepy camera sound.
11:19Oil storage units continue to burn out of control
11:22at the huge Texaco refinery near the Texas, Louisiana border.
11:25Mummy issues.
11:26Maniac.
11:27Joe Spinal stalks, scalps and speaks to deviant inner demons.
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12:06Number 1.
12:07Chrissy's Death.
12:08Jaws.
12:08What's your name again?
12:09I'm Chrissy.
12:10Where are we going?
12:13Swimming.
12:14Chrissy's Death is the title of the first scoring cue we hear from John Williams after that iconic opening theme to Jaws.
12:21It's somewhat appropriate that Chrissy is immortalized in this way
12:25because this scene still makes us feel just a little queasy every time we watch it.
12:31Chrissy's demise is described in equally gruesome terms in Peter Benchley's original novel.
12:43Susie Buclini, meanwhile, accurately portrays the shock, horror and disbelief
12:48as the inebriated young woman is taken under the waves by a shark.
12:52Chrissy's screams for help and the violent thrashing of her body are brutally realistic.
12:57I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
13:04You can't please go!
13:07Although eagle-eyed fans might feel a little better
13:10knowing that Buclini returned to comedically parody her role in Steven Spielberg's 1941.
13:17Do you feel that it's a horror movie's job to properly set things up with a powerful opening
13:21or do you prefer a slow burn?
13:24Let us know in the comments.
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