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

16. The Invisible Man

Leigh Whannell's reboot of The Invisible Man begins with a gut-wrenchingly tense scene where protagonist Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) makes a long-planned escape from her abusive partner, optics magnate and mad scientist Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

There's nothing especially flashy about the sequence, but it's a classic exercise in suspense, a clearly terrified Cecilia attempting her escape from Adrian's high-security home in the middle of the night without waking him up.

But of course, Cecilia's well-laid plans are upended when Adrian is woken up by his car alarm, which is accidentally activated by the couple's dog, leaving Cecilia frantically sprinting to her sister's waiting car.

They're only barely able to escape the scene as an incensed Adrian desperately tries to grab Cecilia and keep her from leaving.

Again, not hugely showy stuff, but the scene so efficiently establishes the fraught central dynamic between Cecilia and Adrian, as well as the film's central theme of domestic abuse.