10 Best One Scene Performances In Horror Movies

Although Wes Craven's Scream embraces cliches, it rarely feels predictable or derivative. In fact, the first instalment in the meta-slasher saga subverts expectations the instant it starts. 

Scream opens with Ghostface phoning high-schooler Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) and threatening to kill her unless she plays a game centred around scary movies. Sadly, the ghoulish killer refuses to play fair and eventually stabs the teen to death before stringing her gutted corpse up on a tree.

Being a big-name Hollywood actress, it was presumed Barrymore was playing Scream's lead character, which made her early departure incredibly shocking.

Drew Barrymore deserves so much credit, considering she performed the majority of this heart-racing scene alone. Even though most of her interaction with Ghostface is through the phone, Barrymore 100% sells how petrified her character is.

More importantly, Barrymore plays Casey like she's a well-rounded character rather than another victim to add to the pile. Like the classic Final Girl, Casey is depicted as clever, alert, and adaptable, and she puts up a serious fight against her attacker, proving her to be anything but a damsel in distress - which makes it all the more soul-crushing when Ghostface ends her life.

This opening scene is masterfully shot and edited, but it's Drew Barrymore's superb performance that defines it.