10 Opening Horror Movie Scenes That Changed Everything

1. Scream

Bride of Chucky Tiffany Jennifer Tilly
Dimension Films

Few horror movies changed the literal face of the genre as much as Wes Craven's Scream did back in 1996.

Yes, Psycho had shockingly killed off its main star earlier than expected way back in 1960, but Janet Leigh's Marion Crane at least made it until the 45-minute mark of that iconic picture. For Scream, it took that concept - as in, killing off your headline act - and turned the volume up to 11.

Of course, the opening of Scream brutally slaughtered Casey Becker as horror hounds were first introduced to Ghostface. A character getting killed in the first few moments of a horror film is fairly standard, as that sets the table and lets you know what threat is on offer. What made Casey's demise so game-changing, though, is she was played by Drew Barrymore. And not just Drew Barrymore, but a Drew Barrymore who was front-and-centre on all of the marketing material surrounding Scream's release.

When looking at the rest of the cast for Scream, they were all relatively unknowns at that point. For instance, a few people may have known Neve Campbell for Party of Five or from The Craft, which released earlier that year; David Arquette was likely best known for the Parenthood TV series; and Courteney Cox was only two years into her Friends gig and not quite the huge star she'd later become.

Scream was so heavily marketed around Drew Barrymore as the star, so the death of her character within the first 10 minutes was huge, completely changed the dynamic of Scream, and breathed new life into a horror genre that had long grown stale and formulaic.

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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.