10 MORE Horror Movies You Knew Would Be Good After The First 10 Minutes
6. Don't Look Now
Based on the way Don't Look Now is presented, it doesn't seem like a horror movie. As such, viewers are sure to be blindsided by the first scene.
Married couple John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) are keeping busy at home, as their daughter Christine plays outside in her red raincoat. While John studies his photographs, the camera makes sudden cuts to Christine, who's hunched dangerously close to a lake.
After Laura's wine spills over a picture of a red-coated figure, John notices it looks like the person is bleeding. Believing the image is a sign Christine is in danger, John runs outside and jumps into the water to rescue her.
Although John's intuition is spot on, he's too late, since Christine has already drowned. In shock, John lets out a defeated wail while clutching his child's body.
Even though it's a powerful scene in its own right, this is magnified exponentially through simple film techniques. Rather than relying on creepy music, jump scares, or exposition, the scene uses visual storytelling to convey what's happening, and more importantly, where it's leading.
On a rewatch, the scene is more profound, since John's line how "Not everything is what it seems" perfectly foreshadows the gut-wrenching ending of Don't Look Now.