20 Greatest Opening Scenes In Horror Movie History

The Movie: George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead is a national treasure; shot on a shoestring budget,  the zombie classic stands as a crucial milestone for independent cinema, an untouchable gem amongst horror purists, and an intelligent, thought-provoking time capsule from the Civil Rights era. Not bad for a movie about corpses devouring humans.

The Opening Scene: "They're coming to get you, Barbara." This deceptively simply tale begins with Barbara (Judith O’Dea) and her brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) visiting their mother’s grave in a secluded cemetery in rural Pennsylvania.

Shot in grainy stock, of a vérité style, the audience is given no time to breath as almost immediately Johnny is attacked by an unknown assailant. Johnny is knocked unconscious by the lumbering attacker, who then sets his sights on Barbara, pursuing her in an agonizingly drawn out chase to an isolated farm house, where hiding she discovers the half eaten corpse of (presumably) the house’s owner.