20 Best Opening Scenes From Recent Horror Movies
17. Shelby Oaks
Though Chris Stuckmann's long-awaited feature debut Shelby Oaks received wildly mixed notices, a common sentiment among critics and viewers alike was that the opening found footage segment was by far the most effective part.
The film begins as a faux-documentary detailing the disappearance of four paranormal investigators, and while three of their bodies are eventually found, Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) remains missing as her sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) continues to search for her.
This engrossing 15-minute opening impressively captures the aesthetic of an actual true crime documentary, melding contemporary interviews with Mia with grainy footage of Riley and her friends investigating various phenomena.
The faux-doc portion of Shelby Oaks abruptly ends when a man shows up at Mia's door in the middle of her interview and shoots himself, at which point Stuckmann transitions to a more conventional cinematic format for most of the film's remainder.
It's a shame that the rest of the movie can't live up to that genuinely chilling, moody opening, and there are surely many who wish that Stuckmann maintained the faux-doc, found footage style for the film's entirety.