Best and Worst Cold Openers
 

For those that don't know the term, a cold opener is the bit of the movie that plays before the title card or opening credits start. It is typically used as a prologue of sorts to the film which, if done effectively, can set up the events of the film and draw you in early on. A bad cold opener though can make you decide to turn the movie off before it even starts or give you a bad first impression throughout.

What are some of your best and worst cold openers? Here are some of mine

The Best:

Haunt: I came up with the idea of this thread after watching this movie. After viewing the cold opener i actually started thinking that its been awhile since i've seen a good one. This one set up the events of the movie pretty well without revealing too much so you were left wanting to know what had caused the events and what was going to happen. It was also a good precursor to the kind of tension and scares that would follow.

Scream: Arguably the best part of the movie. This opener made the phrase "What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?" a famous horror quote and made Ghostface creepy instead of just a guy in a silly costume. Without this opener, the rest of the movie would've have been as good.

Halloween: A classic opener. Done wonderfully within a POV shot until the end, first time viewers may be surprised to see who the killer turns out to be and makes the scene all the more scarier.

The Worst:

Here Comes The Devil:A totally pointless lesbian sex scene that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie and does nothing but add a lesbian sex scene to the movie.

That's all i can think of right now but if i can think of more, i'll add more. Let's hear some of yours.

Personally...I thinks ALL movies should start with a pointless lesbian sex scene...but that's just me

hard to remember for sure if it's cold openers I'm remembering, but Halloween's POV and the spaceship falling to Earth in The Thing comes to mind. In Se7en you have Summerset starting his metronome with the backdrop of the chaotic city.

Don't know if it is really a horror, and can't remember if it's an opener as such, but the woman swimmer scene at the start of jaws was really effective, you just know you couldn't wait to see the beast responsible and what else it got up to.

I'm with him. ::wink::


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I typically hate it when a movie needlessly has a cold open that is the ending, though of course I can't think of any examples at the moment... ::roll eyes::


Good call with Halloween and Scream, especially the former; that's my favorite cold open of all time.

Great topic; let me think on this one.

Can't think of a ton I really liked to be honest... recently there was Cabin in the Woods. that was pretty good.

Careful. You'll give Newb a heart attack

What was the opening to that? I cant remember

Richard Jenkins & Bradley Whitford are in a break room getting coffee. They're discussing Whitford's wife's child-prooffing efforts: putting latches on cabinet doors etc.

They move through a large corridor, are joined by a female co-worker in a lab coat, & discuss some unspecified failures & success rates of other nations. The three approach a large open bay with golf cart-esque vehicles.

As Jenkins & Whitford get in they remind the woman their last botch-up was chemistry's fault & Whitford points out it's her department. They drive away and the opening title cuts in quickly mid-conversation.

It's a fun scene and a great cold opener - IMO. ::smile::

There's no such thing as a pointless lesbian sex scene.

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