20 Horror Movie Openings That Are Practically Perfect
9. It - Pennywise Kills Georgie
The start to 2017's It is already one of the most iconic horror movie scenes of the 21st century. This is the kind of thing that'll be parodied in things like The Simpsons or the Scary Movie franchise for years to come; such was its cultural impact, which is hardly surprising. After all, this scene is amazing.
A key question hanging over this eagerly anticipated horror flick was this: would it finally deliver a worthy adaptation of Stephen King's terrifying horror epic? Fine, the 1990 miniseries had its moment in the spotlight but, as anyone who's tried to watch it recently will know all too well, it's aged like milk. The only reason to watch it now is for Tim Curry's iconic performance.
With this opening - in which Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott), the younger brother of the movie's protagonist Bill (Jaeden Martell), is killed by Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgard) - that question was instantly answered in the affirmative. As well as being sublimely creepy, it showcased Skarsgard's outstanding, awards-worthy turn as Pennywise the Clown. If anything, he's even better than Tim Curry, and the scene also ends with Georgie's arm getting gruesomely ripped off, a gnarly visual that saw the (very violent) source material getting the R-rated adaptation it always needed.
It's a fantastic start and thankfully, even if it never quite tops this, the rest of the movie is very good too. The less said about 2019's sequel, though, the better.