From Dusk Till Dawn
Skyfall
Magnolia
Scream

Halloween ( 1978 )
Always get a kick out of this one. If you'd have taken five pages to write the opening, some people would be getting their panties in a fix - "You can't take that long to open a film, people would walk out, this is boring!" Obviously it was written and created in a different time but I love this movie and the opening always sucks me in. Before I know it, I've watched the entire frickin' thing for the millionth time. Plus it's one film where I can watch the entire opening credit sequence and never get bored, even if it is just a pumpkin on screen. The music sucks me in.

As for opening before the credits, I'd go for Halloween II (1981). Sets the film directly from the ending of the first, includes a couple of classic lines ( "You don't know what death is!"), slightly retcons the original ending and has Myers create a landmark of almost asteroid proportions on the garden. It's awesome!

Movies aside, I always used to love the opening credit sequences of Knight Rider and Street Hawk. The music was epic and the visual of Kitt driving through that purple tinted desert is stuff of legend.
* Special mention for Baywatch. Used to be must-see viewing.

Halloween II's opening slightly retcons the original ending?  More like totally... no pun intended.  

And then it's followed by an entire film that's so drastically different, and, to an extent, bad, that it's, well... downright jarring.

Of course, I'm sure we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter. haha  


--Steve

Nice one Levy, lol

We're not talking about any ordinary movie here Levy, we're talking about evil on two legs - - hang on,
We're not talking about the entire movie, just the openings haha

I do dig Halloween II, truth be told. It's not a match on the original but it holds a light.

A dim light.

However, it does include one the most intense chase scenes I've ever seen which kinda bumps it up in my book.

Well, I won't lie.  I do like the "you don't know what death is" line, but that's about it in regard to the opening.


--Steve

Fair do's.

I like the opening more in the way that it starts from where the original finished, not particularly its content, but that the the rest of the film carries on the same night. I do think it was a brave move though, and for that, I thought I'd give it some recognition.

Maybe Carp's thoughts were with the Hammer films and how they resurrected their monsters, but its an opening sequence that has always stuck with me and I think it works quite well.

This is a nice thread. We can collect some good ones of any genre. I tended to look over my favorites first.

Ok here are some I throw in:

I go with Dark Knight and Scream too


Gangs Of New York
Rear Window
The Great Dictator - (actually any Charlie Chaplin movie; he's on fire from first to last second)
Aguirre The Wrath of God
There Will Be Blood
Hurt Locker

I don't know if it belongs here. I find it impressive what Lynch done with Twin Peaks- just a picture of Laura Palmer and the catchy music and I'm in the mood by the credits running

How could I forget Gangs of New York? What a cool opening.

I've never seen Twin Peaks, but your comment about putting you in the mood reminded me of A Serious Man. I read that it doesn't even have any relation to the story, the Coens just put it there to set the tone of the film.  

I turned it around with Twin Peaks. I remembered it were the Opening credits, but it were the Closing one's with the picture.

@ Lee
Twin Peaks especially is interesting if you like stories which deal with questioning and figuring things out on your own a lot. Even so, concerning that point, it's not as erratic as Mulholland Drive...
There is a film and also the series. I prefer the series by faaaaaaaaar.
Lynch repeats the music neverending, over and over and over during the series. I would recommend to watch a few of them in a row if you ever want to check it out. It has addictive potential.


Ice Age

Trinity is still my Name

A lot of stuff I've been meaning to watch just piling up. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. I'm a little doubtful 'cause personally, I found Eraserhead excruciatingly boring, and that's the only film I've seen of Lynch's.

I see. Yeah, my list seems getting longer all the time, too. Better than the other way round. I haven't watched Eraserhead. Maybe his stuff didn't get you.

I don't think anything will beat the opening to Scream. It really elevated and popularized the genre and made it fun to dissect horror movies. The sequels (excluding 3) are also note-worthy.

Another opening I've always liked which often goes completely unnoticed because of the quality of the movie itself is the opening to Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood. It's a truly god-awful movie, but the traditionally animated opening scene is dark, ominous, and gives an otherwise cheesy character a strong origin story.

The openings to Finding Nemo and Up still work their magic after multiple viewings.

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame has a near-perfect prologue.

The opening to the original Night of the Living Dead often goes forgotten, but it's a particularly strong scene because it establishes a fun-to-watch relationship between brother and sister, just before killing off one of them and sending the other fleeing for their life.

Ghost Ship and Wishmaster kill off dozens of people onscreen in the span of about five minutes.

The Conjuring has the best opening scene in a horror movie in recent memory.

I'm sure I'm forgetting many, but those come immediately to mind.

I'm surprised that no one brought up Contact with Jodie Foster and Matt McConaughey.




Phil

Dawn of the Dead(2004), the credit sequence.  "Are these people alive or dead?"  ...We don't know.  Cue Johnny Cash.

Neglected to post here earlier. Honestly, there've been so many great sequences throughout history, I couldn't possibly pick one or even a few, lest I forget some better ones.

That said, I'll go with the most recent one I've seen. The intro to Nymphomaniac is most splendiferous. Dark, atmospheric, and purely cinematic. Then the Rammstein kicks in. Loved it.