Best horror openings

Best horror movie openings

Nothing is more powerful than a really awesome ending to a movie. But something that many people overlook is that the beginnings can be just as amazing. Here is a list of some of my favorite openings to a few of my favorite horror movies.

Scream

• Where else can you see pretty young Drew Barrymore get slaughtered, turned inside out, and hung from a tree in just a matter of minutes?

Scream 2

• Taking things to a whole new level, instead of the masked killer stalking the girl at an isolated farm house, we have the murder take place in front of a packed audience. Ringing close to the classic He Knows Your Alone, this movie packed a punch right from the beginning just to show sequels sometimes can very well almost out do the original.

Scream 3

• Am I the only one who really liked the character of Cotton? First showing the beautiful landscape of the Hollywood Hills, we're shown that the masked killer has a new trick up his sleeve...he can copy anyone's voice whenever he calls. A fast paced awesome start, the haunting lines before the main title slashes on screen. “It was a simple game Cotton...now you lose!”

Dawn Of The Dead 2004

• Running zombies? Flesh eating children? Explosions? Blood? Johnny Cash? Yep this all delivers before the very awesome credit montage of the very impressive remake of Dawn Of The Dead.

Halloween

• I don't care what Tom Savini says...the opening of Halloween is awesome. From the creepy POV shots, the murder of a beautiful helpless naked girl, and the shocking reveal at the killer was just a young boy. I love the image of the parents taking the mask off and saying “Michael?” as he stands there holding the bloody knife and staring off with his blank emotionless eyes.

The Stepfather

• A handsome young man showers, shaves, and changes his appearance in just under an hour. Picking up a suitcase he walks down the stairs of his home only to pan back and reveal a bloody massage. His wife and children are slaughtered all across the living room with the phone off he hook. Walking out and closing the door, he picks up the paper, and walks down the street whistling. A powerful and MUCH better opening than the shitty remake.

Drag Me To Hell

• I think we all know how I feel about this movie. I think the very creepy mansion in California in the 1970's and showing a helpless young boy get dragged down to Hell as the young gypsy woman watches in terror kick starts the roller coaster ride made by Sam Raimi. I love how the woman stares down saying she'll meet that demon again. Great opening and some very awesome music to show Mr. Raimi's very amazing comeback to horror. We missed you Sam!

Friday the 13^th part II

• Everything about this opening is pure perfection. From the young girl at night singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” to a pair of boots entering frame (fyi the pair of feet we see actually belong to a woman...so Jason was played by a woman once. How kick ass is that?) In this opening we meet Alice (the survivor from Part I) tossing and turning having nightmares of that faithful night at Camp Blood where she killed Mrs. Voorhees. Waking, we learn it's been a few months since the massacre and she's trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life by living in a small apartment in town working on her art which appears to be images of her friend Brenda who was brutally killed that Friday the 13^th. After a few hang up calls, Alice is frightened by her cat jumping through the kitchen window. On edge she opens the fridge to get her pet some dinner when she's welcomed by the horrible sight of Mrs. Voorhees' rotting decapitated head. Screaming in horror, she's cut off when a hand wraps around her and an ice pick is jammed through her temple. In just the matter of twelve or so minutes we watch the lone hero of the original get killed. Kick starting a revenge Mrs. Voorhee's son Jason will continue for nearly over twenty years. The boy we believed was at the bottom of the lake, is a grown man who is enraged and has an unstoppable urge and need to kill and destroy. Also...Jason was kind enough to put the tea kettle off the burner. Don't want there to be any accidents now.

Day Of The Dead

• Day Of The Dead is truly a beautiful movie. I think 98% of this is because of Mr. Harrison's haunting score. The “pop out” in the beginning with the wall is so surreal it shows right from the start this movie is going to be the most insane and darkest in the trilogy (in my eyes the 'dead' movies ended with this one.) I can pretty much quote the whole opening and the empty Florida city with the blow horn calling “Helloooooo! Is anyone there?!” echoing through the air adds to the growing tension Also Dr. Tongue showing his pretty face shows this movie is on a while new level.

Fright Night II

• Sure this movie isn't the greatest, but I've always been a huge fan of the opening. It's been a few years since Charlie defeated Jerry Dandrige with Peter Vincent. In therapy, Charlie recalls everything that happened before his doctor asks him to now tell him what really happened. Charlie sits up saying that Jerry Dandirge was a cult worshiper psychopath who kidnapped his girlfriend Amy and best friend Ed and made him believe he was a vampire. Right before the opening title appears, Charlie says something us audiences never thought he would even utter...”Well because vampires don't exist.”

Psycho II

- “Oh God mother! Blood! Blood!” Footage of the original black and white classic is shown. The famous shower scene unfolds as Janet Leigh is jacked by a woman carrying a butcher knife. Falling lifeless to the floor, the camera pans out of the room to the newspaper where her stolen forty-thousand dollars stay hidden, and then out the window to the house looming over the motel. Here Jerry Goldsmith's beautiful score begins slowly turning from night to dawn, showing all the years that have passed.