10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All

4. Santa's Slay

Carol Kane fails to check the children in time in When A Stranger Calls
Media 8 Entertainment

While these days we have Dwayne Johnson, Dave Bautista and John Cena (because Bumblebee was awesome!) showing that wrestlers can make for damn fine actors, there was a period of time where any movie featuring a pro wrestler would be absolute trash... unless that wrestler's name was Roddy Piper, of course.

One such trash offering was 2005's Santa's Slay, which featured WCW icon Bill Goldberg in the headline role as a brutal, blood-spilling Santa Claus who is the Antichrist.

In this David Steiman offering, Goldberg's Kris Kringle is the result of a virgin birth orchestrated by Satan. Initially using Christmas as a 'Day of Slaying', that all changed when Santa lost a curling match in 1005 A.D. that meant he had to spend the next 1,000 years delivering presents on that day as punishment.

As Santa's Slay opens, those 1,000 years just so happened to have expired. And how does Claus mark his newfound freedom? Why, he slaughters the Mason family in brilliantly imaginative festive ways.

What makes this moment particularly surprising, is how it kills off all the billed main stars of the picture in that opening act - as James Caan, Fran Drescher, Rebecca Gayheart, Chris Kattan, Alicia Loren and Annie Sorell are all offed during Santa's Slay's opening scene.

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.