Thanks to those of you who have been following along with our 30-Days of Horror Challenge. I can see the traffic reports, so I know there’s a bunch of people are reading this thing every day. Super cool! Well today’s question, on our second to last day, is “The best horror movie opening scene.”
“The Best,” huh? Again, I have a runner-up… that opening scene in Jaws, with the girl skinny dipping late at night, being suddenly paralyzed with terror once she realizes she’s about to be eaten by a wild animal. That scene never ever gets old, it makes the hairs on my arm stand up every time!
I gotta go with the opening scene to Stanley Kubrick’s masterwork “The Shining.”
The movie is about isolation and madness, a recovering alcoholic takes an off-season job taking care of a mountain hotel that is effectively cut-off from society during the punishing Rocky Mountain winter. He takes it as an opportunity to write his novel and reconnect to the family he damaged with his substance abuse.
The opening scene is a slow list of opening credits while a continuous wide overhead shot of the Torrance family’s yellow Volkswagon Beetle ascends the long and scenic road into the mountains toward The Overlook Hotel, while a creepy synthy rendition of the requiem Dies Irae plays ominously in the background.
Sets the whole mood to the movie. The scene is picturesque, beautifully shot, but MAN is it ever heavy and foreboding!