10 Best Horror Movie Opening Scenes Of The 2010s

Scream 4 holds an awkward place in the franchise, sitting in the no-man’s-land between the original trilogy and the new films, with a decade or so on either side of it. But Wes Craven’s last directorial effort in the series sees him on fine form, growing with the times to both remake and reiterate the Scream format, blending a new young cast with all the old faces.

We begin with Trudi and Sherrie (Shenae Grimes and Lucy Hale), who are alone in the house when the phone rings. They try to ignore Ghostface, but soon he’s inside, juggling knives, and then comes the title card for Stab 6, the fictional film series based on the in-universe Woodsboro killings. Turns out we are in Rachel and Chloe’s (Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell) living room watching the film on their sofa, and they’re critiquing the hell out of the Stab sequels. Until Chloe guts Rachel, and the Stab 7 title card arrives. It’s only on the third attempt that we arrive at the real film, home alone with victims-to-be Marnie and Jenny (Britt Robertson and Aimeé Teegarden).

The double fake-out is hysterical, and very much in the vein of previous franchise entries. A send up of the classic Scream opening - which usually finds its victims alone in the house ready to get knocked off by Ghostface - it lets us know the rules are never certain and that we are part of the joke.