10 Movies That Peaked In Their Opening Scene
9. Scream
The Movie
Wes Craven's Scream is without question the quintessential horror satire, a deliciously inventive skewering of slasher movie tropes that also managed to serve up inventive death scenes and memorable, likeable characters.
Scream is also credited with killing the serious-minded slasher flick while revitalising more ironic, tongue-in-cheek genre fare in the late-90s, even if the glut of copycats couldn't hold a candle to the classic original.
The Opening Scene
The film's iconic opening scene sees Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) receiving a seemingly flirtatious phone call from a charming stranger, who soon enough reveals himself to be the movie's murderous antagonist - Ghostface.
Ghostface toys with Casey by asking her questions about horror movies, before murdering her boyfriend and eventually gutting Casey, who is found hanging from a tree by her (naturally) horrified parents.
The white-knuckle 10-minute sequence honestly might be the best thing Craven ever directed - it's basically a short film that stands tall on its own.
It delicately blends self-aware writing with dread-soaked direction, and with Barrymore being unexpectedly killed off so early on, it sets a grim, expectation-defying tone from the outset.
As a whole, Scream certainly delivers a deft blend of genre-lampooning comedy and genuine horror, but this opening scene was the ultimate breath of fresh air, and one hell of a statement-of-intent.