10 Terrifying Horror Movie Phone Calls You'll Never Forget

7. Scream

Ring Ringu
Dimension Films

The opening act of Scream is utterly iconic and set the tone for a movie which would ultimately reinvent the horror genre.

From the legendary Wes Craven, Scream shook up the world of horror by poking fun at the overplayed tropes that had long become commonplace by the time of that film's release back in 1996. And not just did Craven's '96 picture mock the genre, it also managed to be a totally terrifying beast at the same time.

Of course, the opening of Scream introduced audiences to Ghostface, as Drew Barrymore's Casey Becker was tormented in an almost playful way before her lifeless body was left dangling from a tree.

Seeing Barrymore killed off was a huge shock - with her being front 'n' centre as the star of the movie in all of Scream's marketing - and that death gave horror fans their first experience of Ghostface's penchant for troublesome phone calls.

That call is the very first thing we see in Scream, and what starts as a fun piece of flirtation during a wrong number mishap ends up seeing the infamous "what's your favourite scary movie?" line thrown out for the first time. For poor Casey, her knowledge of the Friday the 13th franchise would let her down and only add further to the tense, chilling phone call which launched one of the all-time great horror series.

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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.