10 Horror Movies That Don't Start As Horror Movies
7. Predator
Even though the opening scene of Predator reveals an alien spacecraft heading to Earth, basically the entirety of the film's first act is a seemingly more conventional action thriller the sort of which Arnold Schwarzenegger regularly starred in during this era.
A bunch of hyper-masculine soldiers in over their heads in the jungle sounds totally on-brand for Arnie and co., then, but it's only once the extraterrestrial hunter directly attacks the team and reveals itself that Predator mutates into an action-horror flick.
From here, Predator becomes one of the most gut-wrenchingly intense, ultra-violent, and downright well-crafted horror movies of its decade, despite the first act having painted it as something far more ordinary and by-the-numbers for the most part.
Even though, again, we see a spaceship in the very first scene, all this does is tell you that the movie has a sci-fi element, not that our central characters will be facing off against an alien creature with a penchant for skinning people and ripping out spines.