10 MORE Scariest Opening Horror Movie Scenes Ever

You'd be right in berating this entry for not being Japanese classic Ringu, but the American remake that made waves in 2002 did hit the nail on the head with this stinger of an opening act. There's got to be a reason it inspired all of those sub-par westernised remakes of classic asian cinema, after all, and is one of the few that retains a proper sense of horror from its very first step out of the screen.

Showing, not telling is key for filmmaking, and showing us the fate of a school girl that has seen a cursed video tape and will succumb to its powers is done with an expert hand as The Ring plays out. Katie realises all too late that the legends of an entity murdering anyone who watches a particular video are true, as she wanders through her house to televisions turning on, water leaking under doorways, and the all too suffocating feeling of something hiding in plain sight.

Nothing particularly outrageous happens - but that's exactly what makes it so stomach-churning. We end with a zoom in on Katie's distorting face as she sees something we cannot - enough to keep curiosity piqued until we learn of Samara's grisly fate.