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

20. Barbarian

Zach Cregger's genre debut Barbarian wastes not a second of the viewer's time, kicking off with a most relatably creepy setup when protagonist Tess (Georgina Campbell) pulls up to her Detroit Airbnb in the middle of the night only to find a man, Keith (Bill Skarsgård), already inside.

Keith claims that he also booked the Airbnb and they're dealing with a double-booking situation, but of course, we as audience members are primed to be immediately suspicious and fear for Tess when she accepts Keith's invitation to come inside.

It's an elegantly simple yet brilliantly effective primer for the rest of the movie, Cregger pulling us all in one very clear narrative direction, only for - without spoiling too much - things to take a rather unexpected and grisly turn at the end of the first act.

Yet without such a pointed but straightforward opening scene, that subsequent rug-pull wouldn't be nearly as surprising.