Screamhas alwaysenjoyed massively surprising opening scenes, almost always resulting in big murders that no one should have expected. However, by the fifth movie, the franchise wanted to try something new and switch things up. It was still a popular star in the opening, but this time it created a scene that stands out among the best.
Screamshocked the world when it came out in 1996, andWes Craven had another successful franchise on his hands.The movie won fans over from the opening scene. In one of the most shocking moments in horror movie history, a famousbig-name actor opened the movie and died in the opening scene.
This was Drew Barrymore, and it hadn’tbeen since Alfred Hitchcock’sPsychothat such a big name was used as a red herring, only to be killed off to introduce the real stars of the movie. By the fifth movie, Jenna Ortega stepped into that role, but this time,Screamchanged all the rules.
Scream 2022 Has A Legitimately Scary Opening Scene
The Scream Reboot Subverted Fan Expectations
The opening in the 2022 movieScreamsaw teenage Tara Carpenter (Ortega)at home texting with a friend. That is when the phone began to ring, and Tara started talking to a person who called for her mother.When he asked, “What’s your favorite scary movie?“fans knew what was going to happen next.
Ortega’s answer,The Babadook,was interesting (meditation on mothers and grief), but she never showed the fear that Barrymore’s Casey showed years before. She then insulted slasher movies as “scholocky cheese” with “wall-to-wall jump scares.” He asked aboutStab,which she insulted. It was all playing into the genre and was perfectly done.
Things got intense when the person who called her said they had her friend’s phone and would kill her if Tara didn’t play horror movie trivia. This led to the eventual attack, and Ghostface stabbed Tara multiple times. However, the police were on their way, and she somehow survived this terrifying attack, the best since the first film.
Jenna Ortega’s Tara Surviving Put A Good Twist On Scream’s Opening Scene Trend
Tara Carpenter is The First Person Who Survived A Scream Opening
What really makes this scene fromScream2022 stand out is the fact that Tara lived. Ever since the first movie, where Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker was killed in the opening, theScreamfranchise proved the idea that anything could happen and no one was safe.Each of the movies then opens with a new scene where Ghostface kills someoneat the start.
The second movie opened with two people killed during a screening ofStab,the in-world movie about Sidney’s experience. The third movie kills Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) at the start.It wasn’t until the fifthScreammoviethat a person survived the opening Ghostface attack, which ended up as one of the biggest twists in the franchise.
Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens
Jada Pinkett and Omar Epps
Cotton Weary and Christine Hamilton
Liev Schrieber and Kelly Rutherford
Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper
Aimeé Teegarden and Britt Robertson
Laura Crane, Jason Carvey, Greg Bruckner
Samara Weaving, Tony Revolori, Thom Newell
Not only was this a huge twist, but the fact that Jenna Ortega’s Tara Carpenter became the new final girl (alongside her sister Sam, played by Melissa Barrera) made it perfect. Tara survived the attack, but she was traumatized, which was a considerable difference from Sidney’s plight, since she initially only reacted to the attack.
Scream2022 changed the entire dynamic of the franchise, and it all started with the opening scene. While Jenna Ortega is not returning for the seventh movie, it at least set up something fresh for two films in the popular slasher horror franchise.
