We're going on a trip to the far east, where Horror delves where Hollywood had feared to tread. We're trading in the hillbilly horror for some scary little girls with wet hair! Join Liz, Eric, and Mike for a combo plate of some of our favorite offerings from across the Pacific.

Aaaaaand... ACTION! Here are the video clips of Mike and Eric's Episode 60 favorite opening scenes from horror movies. Beware, some of these are pretty intense and visceral.

As promised, in our Podcast episode 60 discussion about the greatest opening scenes in horror, here's your quick access to some of the greatest opening sequences in the genre. We recommend that you listen to our podcast first, then come back here to watch teh openers. Fair warning, several of these are grisly nasty, and are Red-Band R rated fare. And, because our friends at Facebook shy away from such things relative to their advertising policy, it's best not to directly associate this post with the Podcast post in which we are trying to promote. (But that's a little inside baseball for y'all.)

For each one of these selections, the opening scene sets the tone for the movie, whether it be dread (The Haunting) or terror (28 Weeks Later), and in some cases, the movie struggles to live up to the boffo beginning. That said, if you want to know how to properly get an audience immediately invested in a horror movie, take a cue from one of these.

OK, spoiler alert for our Podcast Episode 60!

With that done, you may proceed.

Eric's #4 (And Amy's #1): Ghost Ship (2002). The bloody deck dance sequence. All that celebration and fancy dancing, Senza Fine being dreamily sung in the background by a live band, cut short by a very sudden and savage cable snap. A nice blend of digital and practical effects. The scene was replicated somewhat in Resident Evil's security tunnel sequence, (Very chunky) but this one is more of a surprise and an absolute jaw-dropper. Honestly, the physics here is all wrong, but the sequence is all right! (Ya dig?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6nz93y1Pf4

Mike's #4: The Haunting (1963). Sadly, no clip of the sequence is available, so here's the WHOLE MOVIE. Granted... it's got a funky star field in the background, meaning that the provenance of the YouTube is a bit dubious, but the actual copy of the film is very clean. That narration, so droll, smooth and haunting. (Pun definitely intended). Hail, Hail, black and white cinema!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHW7c4pMk4U&t=403s

Eric's #3: Haute Tension (High Tension) (2004) The opening home invasion goes on for about 15 minutes... and this is the opener NSFW! Pure unrelenting home-invasion horror. You can go check the sequences that follow this, as there are 11 clips in sequence to watch. Rarely has a movie opened so brutally as this, we never got a chance to settle in with Alex's family before they are wiped off the plot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nIPSxCzfVY

Mike's #3: Dawn of the Dead (2004) Chaos personified! The zombiepocalypse has never looked more harrowing than this. People forget sometimes how good a visionary story teller Zach Snyder is. Fabulous tracking shots, and a frenetic pace that is rarely matched in the genre. This scene put the fans of the Romero series at ease, as you realized that the franchise was in capable hands. And, FAST zombies, a fairly new notion. Watch this sequence, and remember!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=471MwbSA-JY

Eric's #2: 28 Weeks Later (2007) If the previous film didn't put the fear of fast zombies into your mind, this one did. The film, in the end, didn't live up to the fabulous opening sequence, but man, what a doozy! Robert Carlyle is Don, and he is both horribly cowardly and smart at the same time. You completely get it: if had stayed behind to save his wife, he would have died too.

Forget the slow burn, let's get this show off with a BANG! It doesn't guarantee that the movie is going to be great, but making a good first impression, like a blind date, can shape the rest of your experience.

That's Vegetarian as in this time the plants are eating YOU! The tables are turned, and these plants are looking for some long deserved payback.

This might sting a little. (Aiiieeeee!!!) Jeff Dean joins Eric and Mike again in taking on our favorites Hospital Horror shows.

We're getting a little trippy, a little sexy, and going full-on grindhouse... here comes the 1970's!

Put on some Warren Zevon (Little old lady got mutilated late last night. AH-HOOOO! Werewolves of London, again. ) and get your wolfsbane handy, because Eric and Mike are going to talk all things lycanthropic.

A Patreon special request! What horror movie scenario would be you least like to be subjected to, either as a victim or as the monster? Mike and Eric dive into deep movie fears in Episode 55.

When at a comic convention, you've got to talk comics! The last of our Wizard World interviews is with Ben Goldsmith, author of the just released horror comic The Seance Room from Source Point Press. This was a fun interview!

Keeping it Weird at Wizard World! Mike is joined by Brian "The Unipiper" Kidd and Todd Werkhoven, hosts of Portland at the Movies to talk about some oddball horror movies shot in Portland.