10 Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All

8. Alien 3

sons of anarchy finale jax confession
20th Century Studios

Released in 1992, Alien 3 had a famously painful road to the silver screen. Directors came and went, scripts were forever changed, and the picture even started filming without a set screenplay in place. As such, the final result was a much-maligned mish-mash of a movie.

For those franchise fans who flocked to see this third Alien offering, they were immediately slapped in the face mere minutes into the David Fincher-helmed film. That slap came in the shape of the deaths of fan favourite Aliens duo Newt (Carrie Henn) and Hicks (Michael Biehn).

Having survived the final act of Aliens alongside Ripley and Bishop, audiences presumed that Newt and Hicks would be a pivotal part of Alien 3. Instead, not only were the pair killed off, but those deaths essentially happen off-screen - with Newt and Hicks left dead after an escape pod carrying these four Aliens survivors crash-lands on Fiorina 161.

It wasn't just fans who were shocked by this opening act, Aliens director James Cameron publicly slammed the decision, Alien 3 director Fincher completely disowned the film, and Michael Biehn made sure he got a major payday for the use of his likeness when we see an archive picture of Hicks.

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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.