10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All
1. Halloween (1978)
It would be impossible to compile such a list and not feature the iconic opening to John Carpenter's legendary Halloween in some form or fashion.
Along with Black Christmas, Halloween is the film often credited with kickstarting the slasher subgenre. And man, did Halloween itself kick things off with an almighty head f**k.
Regardless of what BS you may hear from some blowhards, absolutely nobody was ready for Halloween's opening act reveal that the person we'd just seen carry out bloody murder was an angelic-faced six-year-old boy.
With the opening act death of Judith Myers, the audience had seen all of this play out from the killer's vantage point; in reality, it actually being writer/producer Debra Hill's hands carrying out the stabby-stabby action here.
It's only once this killer leaves Judith's lifeless body behind and heads outside that we have the jaw-dropping revelation that the carnage we've just witnessed was carried out by someone so young. It was genuinely shocking, it was utterly jarring, and it was an opening scene that made you realise that Halloween was far from your regular run-of-the-mill horror picture.