10 Horror Movies That Tricked You By Killing The "Main Character" Early

Before Scream debuted in 1996, the slasher genre was arguably dead in the water, limited to endless remakes of classics such as Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Wes Craven did not care for this status quo.

The introduction to Craven's deliciously depraved horror Scream featured Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker, already an A-list actress at the time. She seemed perfectly poised to take the lead role in this bold new take on the slasher genre.

Yeah, about that.

Casey answers a phone call that soon turns sadistic beyond belief, as she discovers that said caller is in the vicinity of her house (conveniently situated in the middle of nowhere), and has her beaten and bloody boyfriend tied to a chair on the patio.

Sadly, the horror is only just getting started for poor Casey. Her boyfriend is killed as a punishment when she incorrectly answers a question regarding a horror movie and Casey's vicious demise follows soon after. The anguish added to the scene by Casey seeing her parents return home just before being disembowled and hung from a tree in front of her house only makes the nail biting scene all the more traumatic.

Lesson to be learnt? No one is safe when Wes Craven sits in the director's chair.