When trying to pick out the best opening scene in a horror movie from the past 20 years, there’s a lot to choose from. For example, theOscar-nominated modern horror movieGet Outhas an intense opening scene, whileMidsommarhas as emotional an opening sequenceas you could imagine.
There’s alsoBarbarian, which features 30 or so minutes that leave you breathless, and 2025’sSinners, which features some of the best jump scares anywhere. Modern horror films have a lot to live up to in this sense, withScreammovies always having memorable openings, as do someSawfilms.
However, there’s one film from 2015 that has the best claim to possessing the best modern horror opening scene. It features tense music, teases of what’s to come, and ends with an unforgettable bang.
It Follows: Horror’s Best Opening Scene Of The Past 20 Years
Even when we aren’t discussing the opening sequence,It Followsis considered one of the best horror movies released in recent memory. It was a commercial success and was beloved by critics, landing at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes,spawning a sequel set to film later this year, and getting a steelbook release on July 29, 2025.
That opening scene is part of what makesIt Followsso good, though. It sees a young woman run out of her house and into the street, looking back at something off camera. She tells concerned onlookers, including her father, that she doesn’t need help but runs back home to get something before driving away in her car.
She’s next seen sitting on a beach at night, talking to her parents on the phone and telling them she loves them. The very next show is an immediate cut to the morning, where her mutilated corpse is seen, complete with her leg bent in a horrifying position.
On its own, that sounds like an intriguing opening scene but so much more goes into it. For starters, the scene of her running to and from her house is done in one take, adding to the claustrophobic nature of it all. Then, there’sthe score, which is chilling and makes the scene incredibly unsettling.
There’s no way to be comfortable watching this scene. That final cut to her corpse is a shocking one and makes the rest of the film intriguing. You need to know what happened to her and what she was running from, because this sequence masterfully doesn’t reveal that. It all comes together forIt Follows' great ending.
How It Follows' Opening Scene Perfectly Sets Up The Rest Of The Movie
The opening scene ofIt Followsisn’t just a great one; it also expertly sets the stage for what’s to come. The film focuses on a curse that’s transferred through sexual intercourse, where the affected person gets stalked by an entity that slowly follows them everywhere.
The protagonist,Jay (Maika Monroe), spends the movie getting followed and while the idea of something slowly coming after someone might not sound scary, the relentless nature of the entity makes it terrifying.That opening sequence encapsulates that as Jay goes through the same thing as the girl from that scene.
That scene blends the horror aspect with the mystery and the psychological terror, which is what the rest of the film does. The score from that scene remains as memorable as the rest of the movie and thefilmmaking techniques used by the director are consistently great. It all comes together to makeIt Followsa modern horror classic.
