20 Greatest Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time

18. Blue Velvet

David Lynch may not boast the most expansive of filmographies, but the few films he has directed have - for the most part - been memorable.

Blue Velvet, the director's 1986 suburban film noir, is both that and disturbing, and it has the kind of introduction to match.

What makes Blue Velvet's opening scene such a clever one is that it cuts right through the facade of suburban living. There are the white picket fences, the perfectly mowed lawns and the blue skies, but beneath all that lies something sinister. When your everyday homeowner collapses on his own lawn (to the tune of Bobby Vinton's eponymous 1963 song), the camera pans down to the undergrowth, picking up a disconcerting rumble before fading to black.

It's atmospheric, tonally dissonant and immediately captivating. It also sets the stage for Lynch's dissection of suburban living, and in peeling through the veneer of that dream, Blue Velvet is just as devastating today as it was when it first released.