10 Horror Movies That Should've Scrapped Their Opening Scene
1. Late Night with the Devil
Late Night with the Devil is one of the most acclaimed horror films of 2024 so far, even though many have complained about the relative pointlessness of its opening exposition dump.
A six-minute, documentary-style prologue sequence basically tells the audience everything they need to know about the story - and then some - upfront.
In addition to introducing us to late-night talk show host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), it also reveals the death of his wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig) and Jack's association with a mysterious organisation known as The Grove.
Basically, this all makes it much easier to figure out the story's eventual throughline, when it would've been far more rewarding to see this information doled out more organically during the rest of the movie.
Starting the film immediately with the fateful Halloween broadcast of Jack's talk show Night Owls would've made for a far more alluring and discomforting opening, leaving horror fans uneasy and unsure of precisely where it's all going.
Instead, the mini-doc prologue feels like something a producer enforced upon the production to ensure the lowest common denominator knew exactly what was happening.