10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All
9. The Stepfather
1987's The Stepfather often gets overlooked when thinking of some of the better offerings the slasher subgenre has served up over the years.
It may not quite be a top tier effort to rank alongside the all-time greats, but The Stepfather is a solid film that has an absolutely phenomenal opening sequence.
Starting off by introducing us to Henry Morrison - played by Terry O'Quinn of Lost fame - we find Henry in his bathroom, shaving off his beard, cutting his hair, changing his eye colour, showering, putting on a nice suit, picking up his briefcase and heading downstairs.
Sure, it's a tad odd to see such a dramatic transformation from scruffy mess to pristine businessman, but maybe Henry has had a rough day or two.
Instead of Henry having a bad time, we soon come to realise that it's his family who had really had it rough, as The Stepfather follows O'Quinn's character downstairs to reveal blood-splattered walls and his family all dead. Thinking nothing of this, Henry leaves the house, collects the mail, then whistles off into the distance to start a new life.
Joseph Ruben's '87 movie brutally sets its stall out in those opening minutes, with Henry soon becoming a real estate agent known as Jerry Blake, who has his own new family to terrorise.