10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All

8. You're Next

Carol Kane fails to check the children in time in When A Stranger Calls
Lionsgate

In Adam Wingard's You're Next, we have a movie that completely pulls the rug out from under you from the get-go.

Ahead of the movie's release, the promotional material had geared audiences up to expect a small group of animal mask-wearing killers on a bloody rampage. And yes, that is indeed what we ultimately got - well, until the tables were turned on said killers - but the opening moments of You're Next led you to believe that Talia (Kate Lyn Sheil) and Erik (Larry Fessenden) were going to be some of our central protagonists.

While they very much were on the protagonist side of the fence, the pair's role in You're Next was an extremely minimal.

Rather than sticking around for a good chunk of the movie, lovebirds Talia and Erik were merely fodder whose sole purpose was to get murdered during the film's first few minutes as a way to set up the threat that was looming large for the Davison family down the road.

With the benefit of hindsight, of course, Talia and Erik's roles here made perfect sense. Given the clever, minimal marketing campaign around You're Next, though, seeing these characters not be more pivotal characters was somewhat of a shocker during a first watch at the time of the movie's 2013 release.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.