10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All
Those slasher pictures that totally caught audiences off-guard.
The horror genre is one that is forever keeping its audience on their toes.
By its very nature, horror is out to make you jump, scream, and outright just feel uncomfortable in your own skin. Or in the case of Halloween: Resurrection, make you slap your forehead in disbelief at seeing Busta Rhymes whooping Michael Myers' ass with some kung fu. Hey, it still burns, okay?!
Speaking of the Halloween franchise - segue, ahoy! - it's on the slasher corner of horror that the focus is on here. And no, there absolutely is not any Halloween: Resurrection to be found on this list.
What is to be found, though, is an exploration of some of those slasher pictures that totally caught us all off-guard with how they opted to open up. Whether the film itself was any good, that's redundant, as here it's solely about those jarring, shocking opening scenes that took everybody by surprise.
That surprise may be down to a curveball being thrown at the audience, it could be down to just how brutal an opening act is, or it could be down to how downright random that first sequence is. Regardless, these ten slasher efforts certainly managed to raise an eyebrow or two upon a first watch.
10. The Mutilator
Buddy Cooper and John S. Douglass' The Mutilator opens in such cheery fashion.
Here, we have an unnamed woman (Pamela Weddle Cooper) happily baking a cake for the birthday of her husband Big Ed (Jack Chatham). The couple's young son Ed is there, gleefully going about his business and waiting for the arrival of his old man so that the birthday celebrations can begin.
Just as you get comfortable with this setting, though, this 1985 effort flips a switch - well, pulls a trigger, technically - and turns this idyllic scene into one of tragedy.
Having cleaned his father's guns, Ed accidentally unloads one, sending a bullet through the wall and into his dear, dear mother, killing her in the process just as Big Ed turns up at the house.
This in itself is a grim moment, but things take a darker turn when Big Ed slaps the sh*t out of his son, debates shooting him, then has a total breakdown that sees Big Ed pour a bourbon for himself and his wife's corpse.
Given this stark opening scene, it's no surprise to see it later revealed that big Ed winds up stalking the now-adult Ed and his pals.