It's at least gotta be up there.
Susan Backlinie (Chrissie Watkins) killed it in this scene. It is so powerful, and so believable.
"It hurts! It hurts! Oh my god! God help me! God please help!"
It really sets the stage for an amazing movie.
Everyone always notices the first person who dies more. Just like Drew in Scream.
I agree with you. It's a fine scene, a fine scene indeed.
It's the "Kintner" kid though that I remember most, cap. The complete flipping over of him & his float,,,then the wide gush of blood.
shareYes I agree. During my two weeks off at Christmas I always marathon the Jaws movies. I remember the first time we watched Jaws 3-D the wife was like "Dennis Quaid? In Jaws? Well ok"
shareDrew Barrymore in the beginning of Scream is a really good one too.
shareShe's the perfect girl friend there. Adorable, cute, pretty/not gorgeous, just pretty, soft in those soft jeans, et al. Genius to set her in that role and have her obey what must have been preemptive role playing instruction. That was not by chance nor by accident.
shareYeah, Wes Craven was a true master.
What could be more shocking than having the cute kid from E.T., that everyone fell in love with, brutally murdered by the killer in the opening scene? Very effective for sure.
Exactly. You could not believe it even as it was happening. It's the moment in that film.
All her screwin' around, & scandals, & what-evers disappeared in those precious minutes of film. Only after did "we" appreciate what she'd recognized in herself and her decision to sign that contract, listen to Craven's direction and lay it down onto celluloid.
I had heard that the "It hurts" stuff was real because the harness Backline had to wear to be pulled back and forth in the water was crushing her and she thought it was breaking her ribs (it wasn't though). I don't remember where I heard it, so I don't know how true it is, but maybe that's why her performance seemed so real.
shareWhile not SCARY openings, while YouTube surfing a few weeks back I ran across this GEM of a listing of Ten Opening Shots of All Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnhZXELUmUs
You may not agree with any of them, might agree with all, but in either case this VERY well done video will impress you with it's quality and diverseness. After I watched this I watched many other "Best" videos by this producer and in my opinion they blow away every other regular "best of" makers, including WatchMoJo.
From that list I have to go with Star Wars opening scene. It's like Lucas and Co. are saying "we're going to take the last 50 years of film-making and step it up a few notches."
shareI thought "that's a slasher trope" but Halloween came out 3 years later. So this movie started the trend of splitting teenagers from a group to have them attacked by the killer.
shareCliffhanger wins for me. Nail-biting And devastating.
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