10 Sci-Fi Movie Openings That Get Worse The More You Think About It
3. The Thing
It comes up a lot in lists like this, but it's worth repeating just how genius the opening to 1982's The Thing actually is.
Set in the Antarctic tundra, the early moments of The Thing finds a group of American researchers watching a seemingly harmless dog running towards them.
The group are bemused at the appearance of the good boy, but not nearly as much as they are by the helicopter that's chasing it. Nor the man who gets out of the helicopter and starts trying to shoot the poor mutt!
The Americans respond in a way only they could, by killing the man, and they then take the dog in. Big mistake.
As we all know, the dog is actually the titular Thing, a shapeshifting alien that runs riot throughout the base. But all of this could have been avoided if just one of the foreigners had bothered to learn the native language.
Before he dies, the man from the helicopter shouts a warning in Norwegian, telling his fellow humans to avoid the monstrous dog at all costs. Unfortunately, everyone at the base skipped their Norwegian lessons that day, and their fates were sealed.
If only Duolingo existed back then.