20 Greatest Horror Movie Opening Scenes of the 2020s (So Far)

3. Fear Street Part One: 1994

From its very first scene, there was no doubt that Fear Street Part One: 1994 was made for horror lovers by horror lovers, nodding so blatantly as it does to the iconic, all-timer opener of Wes Craven's original Scream.

We're first introduced to Heather (Maya Hawke), a bookstore employee at Shadyside Mall who audiences likely assume to be the film's protagonist, given Maya Hawke's stature as one of the biggest rising stars of her generation.

Yet Heather is soon enough attacked by one of the Shadyside Killers, who gives chase and stabs her to death, just as he reveals himself to be her friend Ryan (David W. Thompson) and is then shot dead by the town's sheriff (Ashley Zukerman).

Everything about this is incredibly Scream-coded, Hawke basically playing the Drew Barrymore role from the original movie and the camerawork clearly paying homage to her death scene in that film.

This was filmmaker Leigh Janiak basically winking at horror fans from the jump and assuring them that they were in good, genre-savvy hands.