31 Scariest Movie Moments Of All Time

31. Drew's Death - Scream!

It might not be the smartest meta-horror film ever made (Wes Craven's New Nightmare came first and is superior no matter what you think about Freddy Krueger), but Scream quickly became the pulse of the horror genre when it came out. It was clever, knowing and had just enough of a tongue pushed into its cheek to become wildly popular.

And while it is now so well-worn that its kills and jump scares are mostly robbed of their impact, the opening sequence, in which genuine A-lister Drew Barrymore meets her sticky end, is your archetypal slasher kill. When it came out we'd not seen the scream mask, we didn't know the phone call routine by heart and the heart-thumping stalk was like the cinematic equivalent of that "the call came from inside the house" urban legend. Top, slashy stuff.

And not only that, it completely messed with expectations: proving anyone could be up for the chop by killing off the highest billed actor first and in spectacular fashion. This was stunt casting that actually mattered.