12 Movie Openings That Totally Trolled Audiences

Another entry from the A Nightmare on Elm Street helmer, 1996's Scream may be the most infamous trolling opening in cinema history, as well as one of the best.

Wes Craven’s iconic slasher opens with a painfully slow and tense game of cat and mouse between teenager Casey Becker and a killer taunting her via phone, slowly building tension until its harrowing and horrific reveal.

The sequence is tense and terrifying as a standalone short shorn of context, and the film rarely needs to get as violent again after this early shock. But for viewers attending the film upon release, the shock of the movie killing off its most famous star Drew Barrymore in bloody, brutal fashion so early on in proceedings left audiences reeling.

The twist may be famous by now, but this opening remains one of horror cinema's most intense and iconic moments thanks to its ingenious trolling.