From the iconic creepy phone call at the beginning of Scream to little Georgie sailing his paper boat in the rain at the start of IT, horror films have some of the most memorable openings.
But, which terrifying scene has stuck in viewers’ minds the most over the years?
Movie buffs on ranker.com have named and rated the horror film openings they found the most shocking – and the one to claim the top spot is not what you’d expect.
Beating the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and even Jaws, is a 2002 supernatural horror called Ghost Ship.
Set in the 1960s, it opens with a dancefloor full of people onboard the deck of a ship, with a glamorous live singer serenading them.
A gruesome horror movie scene has been voted ‘most shocking’ film opening in history by movie buffs – 2002 supernatural horror called Ghost Ship has beaten likes of Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween and even Jaws
Set in the 1960s, it opens with a dancefloor full of people onboard the deck of a ship, with a glamorous live singer serenading them
But, after we watch them all smiling, laughing, and having a great time, disaster strikes in slow motion as a wire cable snaps.
The cable flies through the whole crowd of people and we see it swiftly chop off the heads of some flowers, with tables being knocked over and some of the hanging lights exploding as it makes it way across the ship.
One shot is even filmed from the point of view of the cable as it hurls through the crowd and slices straight through the passengers.
All of this happens in less than a minute, and viewers are left with a gruesome close-up of the wire covered in blood.
The scene then appears as frozen as it pans across all of the guests who are standing eerily still and trying to work out what happened.
Then, in a shocking moment, the people begin to fall to the floor one by one and it becomes clear that almost everyone was bisected by the wire.
One woman who was mid-dancing was chopped in half at the waist, meanwhile in another terrifying shot, another man was pulling himself across the floor, not realising he only had the top half of his body intact.
A dismembered arm scarily reached up from the floor but was not attached to a body.
But, after we watch them all smiling, laughing, and having a great time, disaster strikes in slow motion as a wire cable snaps
One shot is even filmed from the point of view of the cable as it hurls through the crowd and slices straight through the passengers
Then, in a shocking moment, the people begin to fall to the floor one by one and it becomes clear that almost everyone was bisected by the wire
As more and more people meet their ghastly end, there was only a little girl left who was dancing with the captain before the wire hit the crowd.
She peers up at him to discover the cable had gone directly through his face, leaving him with a gash in the shape of a disturbing smile.
Blood drips from the Captain’s mouth before the top half of his head slides off and onto the floor in front of her.
The jaw-dropping scene ends with the little girl screaming as she realises she is the only one left alive.
Over the years, the horrifying opening has been praised for it’s grisly shock factor, and is still remembered by people more than 20 years later.
The rest of the movie is set 40 years later and sees a salvage crew discover the long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, as they notice that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.
Speaking about the film on Reddit, users penned: ‘The beginning of Ghost Ship really freaked me out when I was younger.’
‘Found this movie in my moms room on VHS on top of her dresser when I was a kid. I put it on and the beginning scene literally traumatized me, I had never seen anything like that before.’
One woman who was mid-dancing was chopped in half at the waist, meanwhile in another terrifying shot, another man was pulling himself across the floor, not realising he only had the top half of his body intact
She peers up at him to discover the cable had gone directly through his face, leaving him with a gash in the shape of a disturbing smile
The jaw-dropping scene ends with the little girl screaming as she realises she is the only one left alive
‘The opening was amazing. I love the rest of the movie too, but it’s the kind of opening that sticks in your head forever.’
‘Why does anyone bother debating which movie has the best opening scene when we all know it’s 2002’s Ghost Ship.’
The iconic scene also has praise on X (formerly Twitter), with someone remarking: ‘The opening scene of Ghost Ship should be taught in film school’.
Others added: ‘That opening scene is ridiculous and I love it.’
‘By far one of the BEST opening scenes to a horror movie!’
‘The opening to ghost ship is god tier.’
‘I have watched one billion movies and it’s still unclear to me if any opening sequence in a movie goes as hard as that of Ghost Ship, a movie I have not seen except for the opening. It is simply a very strong way of starting a movie.’
‘I don’t think anything beats the opening scene of Ghost Ship.’
The iconic scene also has praise on X (formerly Twitter), with someone remarking: ‘The opening scene of Ghost Ship should be taught in film school’
Jaws (1975) also made the list of most memorable opening scenes
1984’s A Nightmare On Elm Street was 10th on the list of most shocking movie openings
However, despite having a phenomenal opening scene, lots of fans claim that from there the movie went ‘downhill’.
On Reddit, film fans penned: ‘That movie could have been an eight-minute short and it would’ve been perfect.’
‘The opening of that film was almost perfect, and then…the rest of it happens.’
‘Such a disappointing movie followed that awesome beginning.’
Others on X chimed in with: ‘The biggest mistake that movie made was having one of the BEST opening scenes in a horror movie ever, there was no way the rest of the film could live up to that awesome sequence in my opinion.’
‘The opening scene in the 2002 movie Ghost Ship is a work of art. The rest of the film, less so, but major respects for that one perfect moment.’
‘The opening sequence of Ghost Ship is really well done. Shame about the rest of the film.’
Other movies that made it to ranked.com’s most shocking and memorable list include IT in second place, Scream in third, Jaws in fourth, and Sinister in fifth.
A Quiet Place takes sixth place, with Halloween in seventh, Dawn of the Dead in eighth, Trick’r Treat in ninth, and finally A Nightmare on Elm Street completing the top ten.
