20 Best Opening Scenes From Recent Horror Movies
12. Oddity
Damien McCarthy's Oddity provides powerful proof that you can craft an effective, eerie horror film without constant jump scares, tons of gore, or much of a budget.
The opening scene takes place in the new home of Dani (Carolyn Bracken) and her psychiatrist husband Ted (Gwilym Lee).
Dani is renovating the house late at night on her own when she's visited by one of Ted's former patients, Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), who warns her that a stranger has infiltrated her home while she wasn't looking.
Dani is naturally alarmed by the unexpected presence of the mentally unwell Olin, though he claims he only wants to come in and check that nobody is hiding in her house.
Dani reluctantly goes to unlock the door, and McCarthy then abruptly cuts to the title.
Even though we only learn the full outcome of this situation later on, this opening scene is basically a superb self-contained short film in its own right - gut-wrenchingly suspenseful, brilliantly acted, and visually stunning.