10 Horror Movie Openings That Get Worse The More You Think About It

6. A Nightmare On Elm Street

Antichrist Charlotte Gainsbourg
New Line Cinema

Sleep is supposed to be a happy place. It's a chance to rest after a long hard day, a chance to mull over your thoughts, a chance to dream that you've won the Superbowl or are a unicorn made of clouds.

Not in the world of A Nightmare on Elm Street though. Here, it's the playground of Freddy Krueger, as seen in the opening of Wes Craven's masterpiece.

The film opens on Tina, a young girl who wakes up from a nightmare where she is attacked by a disfigured man with knives on his fingers. When she wakes up, she finds mysterious slash marks on her nightgown. Then it dawns on her - her dreams are no longer safe.

Freddy's modus operandi is so famous now that it takes a bit of thinking to realise just how scary he actually is. Killing people in their sleep? When they're at their most defenceless and vulnerable? That's some seriously messed up stuff.

Furthermore, people have to sleep. You can try and stay awake for as long as possible, but fatigue will set in eventually. After that, you're completely at the mercy of the ghoul with the glove.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.