12. Drew Barrymore's Death Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA Even after all the highs the franchise reached over the course of four films, it was really hard to ever top this opening. This is easily one of the most brilliant sequences in horror history. The movie famously marketed itself as starring Drew Barrymore, putting her front and center on all the posters. So audiences were completely shocked when she died just 10 minutes into the film, calling back to Janet Leighs sudden death in Psycho. It's such a bold move that perfectly sets the tone right away. One of the eeriest moments of 1990s horror is this exchange between Casey and the man on the phone: You never told me your name. Why do you wanna know my name? Because I want to know who Im looking at. Immediately all the fun youre having watching this girl joke around about scary movies completely shatters. For how self-aware and often comedic these films are, this sequence is still genuinely terrifying. Thats something a lot of meta horror movies fail at: theyre so wrapped up in the detached humor that they cant manage to actually be scary. The Scream franchise always understood that balance.
Brendan Morrow
Contributor
Lover of horror movies, liker of other things. Your favorite Friday the 13th says a lot about you as a person, and mine is Part IV: The Final Chapter.
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