10 Horror Movies With Spine-Chilling Opening Sequences

The horror movies with openings made to tempt and terrify in equal measure.

By Nick Edgeworth /

We all remember our first taste of horror. The pervasive dread triggering an unexpected fight or flight, the darkened shots of a maybe glimpsed threat, racking tension to an unbearable yet intoxicating high and, most importantly, the startling pay off of that original scare.

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It’s in its initial offering that horror is often at its most powerful, and this is a truth of which movie makers are acutely aware. An opening sequence is a film’s best opportunity to tantalise with the promise of what’s to follow, and hook the viewer in with a sudden fright or chilling sense of dread.

The importance of a strong opening cannot be overstated. In the streaming age it is easier than ever to abandon a film halfway through, and with horror’s recent renaissance, connoisseurs of the chilling are increasingly asking more of their murderous media. In times like these, the opening minutes of a movie can be the difference between a hit, a cult classic or complete irrelevance.

The films in this list are some of the best in the business. Whether it be by appalling violence, anxiety, or apparitions, they flawlessly manage to grab the viewers by the throat, and dare them to keep watching the horrors that unfold.

10. Lights Out

Centring around the innovative idea of a monster that can only exist in darkness, Lights Out is the feature-length remake of the 2013 YouTube short of the same name.

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Cleaner Esther (original YouTube star Lotta Losten) closes up the textile factory where she works and begins turning off the lights. As she flicks one of the switches, a figure appears in the darkness, before disappearing when the lights come back on. As the figure suddenly jumps forward in between lights, Esther flees, trying vainly to warn her indifferent boss Paul on the way.

Sure enough, it turns out Paul should have heeded the warning. Encountering the figure, now revealed as a gaunt monstrosity with sharp claws, Paul attempts to flee but is slowed down by the creature slashing his leg between spotlights. Paul manages to barricade himself in an office, but soon finds the creature's ability to manipulate the electric lights, and is swept into the darkness before his corpse reappears, bloodied and broken under a spotlight.

The sudden appearance and disappearance of the creature with the flick of a switch is absolute nectar for fans of the jumpscare, and loads every flicker with heightened tension. Definitely one to watch with the lights on.

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