10 Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All

10. Friday The 13th Part 2

Killing main franchise characters in sequels is nothing new these days, yet back in 1981 it was completely fresh to see a follow-up kill off its predecessor's lead character - let alone kill them off after just a handful of minutes.

That was indeed the case for Steve Miner's Friday the 13th Part 2.

The opening scene of the second F13 picture isn't just memorable for the shock of offing Adrienne King's Alice Hardy, mind, for there was another revelation tied to this scene. While Alice getting an ice pick through the skull was brutally surprising, we also got the shocking shot of Pamela Voorhees' decaying, decapitated head lodged in Alice's fridge.

At that point in time, it had yet to be detailed how Pamela's believed-dead son Jason was actually alive and well - and with a thirst to unleash bloody murder on Alice and those poor fouls who found themselves passing by Camp Crystal Lake.

With this opening sequence, Friday the 13th Part 2 had given horror audiences something genuinely new and something that would be mimicked countless times throughout the subsequent decades.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 11th Jul 2021

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