10 Horror Movie Opening Fakeouts We All Fell For

5. Urban Legend

Urban Legend Brad Dourif
Sony Pictures

A quiet gas station in the middle of nowhere. Torrential rain. A pretty young woman on her own. The creepy, unnerving member of staff who's dripping with sinister undertones. And to make things worse, this oddball character is played by Brad Dourif, the man behind Charles Lee Ray/Chucky of the Child's Play franchise.

We've seen a similar scene playout in countless horror movies over the years, with expectations well and truly set that Natasha Gregson Wagner's Michelle Mancini needed to get out of dodge ASAP. So, when she escapes from the clutches of this madman, we're led to believe that the threat of the day has been quelled and that Michelle has evaded a horrible fate.

As it turns out, this seemingly chilling fella was merely trying to stop Michelle from having something awful happen to her courtesy of the person hiding in her backseat. Due to a speech impediment, the staff member simply couldn't express his concerns to Michelle in a clear manner, meaning she doused him in pepper spray and sped her car off into the distance.

Only then do we realise that, yes, the parka-adorned killer of the picture is indeed in the backseat, with an axe used to butcher Michelle - pulling inspiration from the 'killer in the backseat' urban legend.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.