10 Slasher Horror Movie Openings That Surprised Us All

3. Black Christmas (2006)

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

Bob Clark's Black Christmas is one of the true forefathers of the slasher subgenre, with this 1974 offering viewed by many horror hounds as being the inaugural slasher film.

By the time Black Christmas was remade in 2006, the general consensus was a puzzled reaction questioning why such a classic tale needed retelling in the first place. Truth be told, it didn't. Still, that didn't stop Glen Morgan's '06 redo from landing in US cinemas on Christmas Day of that year.

One element where the Black Christmas remake clearly trumps its predecessor, is in the sheer amount of gory, grizzly kills the film serves up - all often with some sort of creepy eye mutilation involved.

For those going into 2006's Black Christmas expecting the safe scares of the '74 film, they were immediately left shook by the first few minutes of this remake. Here, it's quickly established that this is going to be a movie that will turn your stomach.

Granted, seeing Leela Savasta's Clair killed by having a plastic bag thrown over her head isn't that gruesome, but that demise is instantly followed by Jessica Harmon's Megan - and it's here that the 2006 Black Christmas sets its stall out.

Plastic thrown over her, Megan is stabbed in the eye repeatedly, before having her eyes pulled out of her head. All in graphic detail. All to make you feel queesy.

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.