10 Scariest Horror Movie Opening Credits

9. The Omen (1976)

The Omen Opening Credits
20th Century Studios

Far from being just an example of director Richard Donner's versatility, 1976's The Omen is a terrifically spooky and atmospheric effort and probably the best of the religious horror movies that followed William Friedkin's The Exorcist in 1973.

The film, which makes excellent use of Gregory Peck as an ambitious U.S. politician unravelling in the midst of a satanic conspiracy, also boasts a peak David Warner (dearly missed after his passing in 2022) and a tremendous score from Jerry Goldsmith. Combine that with excellent location work, set design, and Donner's eye for style, and you're left with a brilliant horror picture - although one that has, despite being well-regarded, never quite received the flowers it deserved.

The Omen does an excellent job of establishing its blend of satanic horror from the off. While the opening credits sequence isn't overly elaborate - just credits fading in against a black backdrop - the emergence of the antichrist's silhouette as Goldmsmith's theme swells is itself an omen of the apocalyptic danger lying in wait, a threat Donner's film more than delivers.

In this post: 
Horror
 
First Posted On: 
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.