From the iconic scary phone call at the beginning of Scream to little Georgie sailing his paper boat in the rain at the beginning of IT, horror films have some of the most memorable openings.
But which terrifying scene has most stuck in the minds of viewers over the years?
Movie lovers ranker.com have named and rated the horror movie openings they found most shocking – and the one that claims the top spot isn’t what you’d expect.
Beating Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and even Jaws is a 2002 supernatural horror called Ghost Ship.
Set in the 1960s, it opens with a dance floor full of people aboard the deck of a ship, with a glamorous live singer serenading them.
A gruesome horror movie scene has been voted by movie buffs as the ‘most shocking’ movie opening in history – the 2002 supernatural horror called Ghost Ship has beaten the likes of Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween and even Jaws
Set in the 1960s, it opens with a dance floor full of people aboard the deck of a ship, with a glamorous live singer serenading them
But after seeing them all smile, laugh and have a great time, disaster strikes in slow motion as a wire rope snaps.
The cable flies through the entire crowd of people and we see him quickly chop off the heads of several flowers, overturning tables and exploding some hanging lights as he makes his way through the ship.
One shot is even filmed from the cable’s point of view as it weaves through the crowd and cuts through the passengers.
All this happens in less than a minute, and viewers get a gruesome close-up of the wire covered in blood.
The scene then appears frozen for a moment as it pans over all the guests standing eerily still trying to figure out what happened.
Then, in a shocking moment, one by one people begin to fall to the ground and it becomes clear that almost everyone was cut by the wire.
A woman who was dancing was cut in half at the waist, while in another terrifying shot, another man pulled himself across the floor, unaware that only the top half of his body was intact.
A dismembered arm reached terrifyingly up from the floor, but was not attached to any body.
But after seeing them all smile, laugh and have a great time, disaster strikes in slow motion as a wire rope snaps
One shot is even filmed from the cable’s point of view as it weaves through the crowd and cuts through the passengers
Then, in a shocking moment, one by one people begin to fall to the ground and it becomes clear that almost everyone was cut by the wire.
As more and more people met their gruesome ends, only a little girl was left dancing with the captain before the barbed wire hit the crowd.
She looks up at him and discovers that the cable has gone straight through his face, leaving him with a cut in the shape of a disturbing smile.
Blood drips from the captain’s mouth before the top half of his head slides to the ground in front of her.
The breathtaking scene ends with the little girl screaming as she realizes she is the only one left alive.
Over the years, the gruesome opening has been praised for its creepy shock factor, and is still remembered more than twenty years later.
The remainder of the film takes place 40 years later and sees a salvage crew discover the long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifelessly in a remote area of the Bering Sea, while noticing that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board .
Speaking of the movie Redditusers wrote: ‘The beginning of Ghost Ship really scared me when I was younger.’
“When I was little, I found this movie on VHS in my mother’s room, on top of her dresser. I put it on and the opening scene literally traumatized me, I had never seen anything like that before.”
A woman who was dancing was cut in half at the waist, while in another terrifying shot, another man pulled himself across the floor, not realizing he only had the top half of his body intact
She looks up at him and discovers that the cable has gone straight through his face, leaving him with a cut in the shape of a disturbing smile.
The breathtaking scene ends with the little girl screaming as she realizes she is the only one left alive
‘The opening was great. I love the rest of the movie too, but it’s the kind of opening that sticks in your head forever.”
“Why would anyone bother debating which movie has the best opening scene when we all know it’s 2002’s Ghost Ship?”
The iconic scene is also being praised on X (formerly Twitter), with one person commenting: “The opening scene of Ghost Ship should be learned in film school.”
Others added: ‘That opening scene is ridiculous and I love it.’
‘By far one of the BEST opening scenes of a horror movie!’
“The opening to a ghost ship is divine.”
‘I’ve seen a billion movies and it’s still unclear to me whether an opening scene in a movie goes as hard as that of Ghost Ship, a movie I haven’t seen except for the opening. It’s just a really strong way to start a movie.’
“I don’t think anything beats the opening scene of Ghost Ship.”
The iconic scene is also being praised on X (formerly Twitter), with one person commenting: ‘The opening scene of Ghost Ship should be learned 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 the phenomenal opening scene, many fans claim that the film went ‘downhill’ from there.
On Reddit, movie fans wrote, “That movie could have been just eight minutes short and it would have been perfect.”
“The opening of that movie was almost perfect, and then… the rest happens.”
‘Such a disappointing film followed that great beginning.’
Others on In my opinion, there was no way the rest of the film could live up to that amazing sequence.”
‘The opening scene in the 2002 film Ghost Ship is a work of art. The rest of the film less so, but great respect for that one perfect moment.’
‘The opening scene of Ghost Ship is really well done. Too bad about the rest of the movie.’
Other films that landed on Ranking.com’s Most Shocking and Memorable list include IT in second place, Scream in third place, Jaws in fourth place and Sinister in fifth place.
A Quiet Place comes in sixth, with Halloween in seventh, Dawn of the Dead in eighth, Trick’r Treat in ninth and finally A Nightmare on Elm Street rounding out the top ten.