10 More Scariest Horror Movie Opening Credits
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the cinema... 10 more deadly horror credits await.
We all know the essential elements required to make a compelling horror movie: there's the monster, the victims, the visuals, the music, and the effects. But what of the opening credits?
One of the most overlooked elements of any film-watching experience, audiences often consider them to be the boring, administrative part before you get to the meat of the matter. And yet, the credits are sometimes a truly indispensable part of the film.
A well-executed title sequence can set the scene, establish plot elements, build tone and tension, and sometimes be downright terrifying to boot. In fact, any horror director, composer, or design studio worth their ring of salt knows how to wrangle the opening credits just right to deliver a shock to the system that leaves viewers in fear of everything to come.
We've already covered the name-recognition blockbuster horrors ‐ The Exorcist, Alien, Halloween; the usual suspects - with 10 Scariest Horror Movie Opening Credits, and now it's time for something a little more specialist; a deeper dive into the detail of horror movies' scariest titles, many of which haven't yet enjoyed the notoriety they deserve. Bloody building blocks, screeching text, and family hangings - the following ten opening credits will make you think twice about ever coming in late again.
10. In Fear (2013)
Chances are you haven't seen Jeremy Lovering's indie horror In Fear, but the director's entry into the 'countryside is awful' canon packs tension like a suspension bridge from its opening second.
Production company logos are paired with the sound of ordinary answering messages from protagonist Tom (Iain De Caestecker) to Lucy (Alice Englert), his prospective date to a music festival in Ireland, setting up the film's plot before plunging us into the titles. The abstract title sequence proceeds to establish the tone for the movie to come, with images suspended in lettering - quite literally placing the events of the film within the word 'fear'.
The credits depict what we can assume to be Tom and Lucy's journey on the ferry to Ireland, before diving into more impressionistic territory, with snatches of newspaper reporting violence and destruction, flies feeding from unidentified meats, haunted-looking rural locations, and a car crash - which may be the key to unlocking several of the feature's mysteries.
Bathed in single-colour filters, these images are straight out of the horror playbook, and are backed by an electric keyboard and the kind of tension-building atmospheric sound effects we wouldn't expect to find so soon into the picture. The contrast and escalating violence of the sound and visuals puts us on the back foot, undoing the seemingly ordinary premise and giving us plenty to worry about for the film to come.