What is the greatest horror opening of all time? (Spoilers)

[HighScore Valerie]

Phenomena (1985) and The Thing (1982) openings are pretty iconic.

[Lutz]

Best horror opening is THE “no ice” HUNGER.

Also best opening credits for a non horror movie goes to SCARFACE (that theme!) and best opening for a movie of all time is the Michael Cane vs Liz Taylor ping pong game in X Y & ZEE.

[Jay H.]

There are too many great openings to list.

[UltraMario9]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

The opening is often meant to give a sense of initial comfort many times, with just a hint of creepiness to suggest something isn't quite right. In Exorcist for example, that opening is in the desert where people are digging for old statues. After zooming in on the evil statue, we are shown the house where Regan lives with her mother, and they hear a noise in the attic, which is dismissed as a rat/mouse. So not much of a horror intro there for one of the arguably most effective horror movies around.

I disagree with you there. There's quite a few subtle things in that opening which I actually find pretty chilling. The vicious dogs, the frozen clock, the old woman on the passing cart among other things.

[steel_breeze]

I think Halloween '78 takes the prize... but The Fog '80 is pretty friggin' great, too. Literally sets the whole movie up as being an olde timey ghost story, and then goes into a masterclass in the art of "atmosphere" as all of Antonio Bay goes haywire between midnight and one o'clock. Perfect tone and sense of dread for everything that's to come. (And very probably influenced by Close Encounters, too, which had just been a HUGE HIT three years earlier.) Don't even get me started on that score. SO GOOD!!

[originalHDphantom]

Jeepers Creepers and 28 Weeks Later. I didn't really find 28 Weeks Later to be a very good film, but man that opening sequence was brilliant and worth checking out just for that!

[spider-neil]

I think a great opening should instantly hook you. The opening of Jaws (1975) is incredible and terrifying but you're hooked.

The opening of Scream starts playful and then turns terrifying. You can argue the entire franchise peaks in the opening 5 minutes of the movie because nothing they do later in the movie or future movies is anywhere near as intense.

[Batmon77]

The Beast Within comes to mind but its not the GOAT.

[jonmoz]

Love the opening to The Shining, and the start of Insidious is pretty creepy too.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

I think Halloween '78 takes the prize... but The Fog '80 is pretty friggin' great, too. Literally sets the whole movie up as being an olde timey ghost story, and then goes into a masterclass in the art of "atmosphere" as all of Antonio Bay goes haywire between midnight and one o'clock. Perfect tone and sense of dread for everything that's to come. (And very probably influenced by Close Encounters, too, which had just been a HUGE HIT three years earlier.) Don't even get me started on that score. SO GOOD!!

Since we're on the topic of John Carpenter, might as well throw Prince Of Darkness and In The Mouth Of Madness in there as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2DH6N2qCEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbmyv9TfL-c

[Penti Mento]

Blue Velvet
Eraserhead
Inland Empire

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by HighScore Valerie

Phenomena (1985) and The Thing (1982) openings are pretty iconic.

The Thing is a great opening. A helicopter chasing a dog with gun fire. It’s a grabber especially if you’re going in cold (no pun intended).

[Bugg]

It's been mentioned a few times already, but the moody campfire tale opening of The Fog is...

[SeanJoyce]

An American Werewolf in London. That entire prologue is a mini horror masterclass and would be the standout of any horror anthology you can think of.

The swooning opening notes of Vinton's Blue Moon, the cozy pub atmosphere that abruptly turns foreboding, climaxing with the terrifying encounter on the moors...this movie was an instant favorite before the title cards even appeared. Remarkable.

[Edward R. Meow]

Ghost Ship & 28 Weeks Later

[JDub1]

Jaws, the girls screams are bone chilling and you have to use your imagination as to what is happening to her from the waist down.

Halloween, you have no idea what is going on and who the cameras point of view is suppose to be

[Rzzzz]

TAG (2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNG-v-aBp6I

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by captainron_howdy

Psycho
TCM
Black Christmas
The Thing
The Shining

Psycho is a great horror opening? How so? A great misdirection, sure, but a great opening?

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

The amount of praise Kubrick's Shinning get is extremely undeserved considering it's a flat boring bare-bones take on the book.

Kubricks film is way better than the book, IMO. Darker, scarier and more dreadful. We can disagree here.

What about that movie where a bunch of people are on a big cruise ship and a bunch of super thin metal ropes whip through them all? They stand there for a second and then start falling apart.....literally. Ghost Ship, it might have been called. Not a good film but that opening was cool.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

Kubricks film is way better than the book, IMO. Darker, scarier and more dreadful. We can disagree here.

What about that movie where a bunch of people are on a big cruise ship and a bunch of super thin metal ropes whip through them all? They stand there for a second and then start falling apart.....literally. Ghost Ship, it might have been called. Not a good film but that opening was cool.

The Shining movie better than the book? I completely disagree. The movie is beautiful, atmospheric, iconic but it’s not better than the book. The book fleshes out the characters and gives them clear motivations where as the movie lives in ambiguity. Some people prefer this but I want answers.