10 Horror Movie Opening Fakeouts We All Fell For
7. The Ring
While clearly a version of this scene also takes place in the 1998 original Ring - commonly referred to as Ringu - it's the 2002 US remake which gets the nod here for just how darn intense it is with its opening fakeout. Well, technically fakeouts, for the film offers up a couple of such moments.
As The Ring starts, teenage girls Katie and Becca are having a sleepover. Bored of TV, Becca starts to regale her friend with the tale of a cursed video tape which, if watched, will cause you to die in seven days. Spooked by this story, an emotional Katie explains how she watched the tape in question one week ago, as she then starts to struggle for breath.
Just as the audience thinks Katie is about to bite the bullet, it turns out she's just messing with Becca. That's the first fakeout. Putting the chills down both girls' spine, though, the phone coincidentally rings at that very moment and we have the revelation that, yes, Katie really did watch the video tape in question.
When a scared Becca answers the house phone and passes it to Katie, we're again expecting the worst, only for it to be Katie's mother on the other end of the phone. That'd be the second fakout. From there, the TV turns itself on three times, water appears from nowhere, and eventually Katie does get killed by a mysterious, unseen presence.