10 Opening Horror Movie Scenes That Changed Everything

10. Halloween: Resurrection

When the Halloween franchise has been at its best, it's usually been centred around Michael Myers vs. Laurie Strode.

In John Carpenter's original 1978 feature, in Rick Rosenthal's criminally underrated 1981 Halloween II, and in Steve Miner's energetic 1998 Halloween H20, we'd seen Michael stalking Jamie Lee Curtis' poor Laurie. Heck, even in Halloweens 4, 5, and The Curse of Michael Myers, it was the Shape targeting Jamie's daughter and grandson.

Despite Halloween H20 bringing fresh life to the franchise, that life was brutally extinguished with Halloween: Resurrection four years later. And while the forehead-slapping lasting memory of that 2002 picture is Busta Rhymes laying down some kung fu moves on Myers, the opening scene of Resurrection absolutely altered the entire franchise.

Of course, that opening saw Haddonfield's infamous Shape shockingly kill off the institutionalised Laurie, stabbing Strode and dropping her to her death from the top of Grace Andersen Sanitarium.

With that, one of the most iconic and popular protagonists in horror movie history was removed from the Halloween chessboard, as Resurrection instead focussed its action on placing some fame-hungry young adults in the Myers House for a reality TV-esque stream on Halloween night.

So bad was the response to Halloween: Resurrection, it brought the franchise to a crashing halt, before Rob Zombie rebooted the series in 2007.

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: 6th Sep 2023

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