20 Greatest Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time

16. Scream

Wes Craven's satirical slasher Scream was an instant hit when it premiered in 1996, and its opening sequence has had horror fans quoting it ever since.

Much like Psycho forty years earlier, Scream took the bold decision to kill off a character early on who everyone expected to feature heavily throughout the film. In its case the character, Casey Becker (played by Drew Barrymore), becomes the first victim of Ghostface, the franchise's ghoulish serial killer who's able to boast an encyclopaedic knowledge of horror films.

It's a fantastic set-up, and subverts the first of many horror cliches Scream affectionately takes aim at. Barrymore's character was meant to be the film's lead, but in killing her so early, it became clear that this particular horror film wasn't going to play by the rules.