The Coldest Open
Features
Blumhouse's The Invisible Man opens with the best final girl of the 2020s [The Coldest Open]
The role of "The Invisible Man's girlfriend" was one that had been underwritten and overlooked for over a century. But in eleven minutes, Elizabeth Moss and director Leigh Whannel changed that forever.
September 12, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
James Cameron opens Aliens with the same fundamental horror that Alien: Earth is built upon: a xenomorph too close to home [The Coldest Open]
Cameron creates a shot of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley that might as well be in the marketing for Alien: Earth... if Ripley was a character in Alien: Earth
September 05, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
James Wan's The Conjuring jumps right to the scares, and there's nothing wrong with that [The Coldest Open]
Are the opening moments of the first film in The Conjuring universe a triumph in character development and narrative introduction? No. Do they make you go, "AGH!"? Yes.
August 29, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
With IT: Chapter One's opening scene, Andy Muschietti proves you can be scared even if you know where this is going [The Coldest Open]
Director Andy Muschietti, who is returning to Pennywise's realm for IT: Welcome to Derry on HBO, knows that you know your Stephen King. And that's not gonna stop him
August 22, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
The beginning of An American Werewolf in London stumbles a bit, but that's understandable on the misty English moors [The Coldest Open]
An American Werewolf in London opens with a so-so protagonist and debatable title song, but I'll walk through the countryside on a full moon myself before I criticize those visuals
August 15, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
Ridley Scott's Alien opener reminds us there's more to be afraid of than just the xenomorph [The Coldest Open]
Even before the first chestburster scene, there's already a villain onboard the Nostromo, and plenty of warning signs that the cast of Alien aren't going to make it
August 08, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
Zach Cregger's Barbarian is bonkers horror, but its opening is a masterclass in subtlety [The Coldest Open]
Eventually, Cregger's 2022 basement horror flick gets cranked up to 11. But it's worth talking about how it starts out at a very creepy 1
August 01, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
Tom Holland's Fright Night (1985) is a stone cold classic with a tepid opening [The Coldest Open]
Eventually, Fright Night will give us some stellar vampire makeup effects. But first, we have to sit through an awkward (and decently uncomfortable) opening sequence
July 25, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
The Descent delves deep into human trauma from its first moments [The Coldest Open]
We may only be diving into the first 6 minutes of Marshall's cult classic, but what we find there is as deep as any cannibal-housing cave system
July 18, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
The original I Know What You Did Last Summer movie turns your slasher expectations into roadkill [The Coldest Open]
As we approach the 30th anniversary of the Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. slasher classic (and a franchise reboot), Popverse is putting it in reverse to examine the OG film's opener
July 11, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
How Wes Craven's Scream sets the bar for horror movie openers [The Coldest Open]
The Drew Barrymore-starring opener to 1996's Scream not only kicked off a three-decade franchise; it perfected a piece of filmmaking a century in the works: the cold open
July 04, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
M3GAN eventually gets into a groove, but it starts out with no rhythm and not enough murderbot [The Coldest Open]
In honor of M3GAN 2.0 coming to theaters, we take a look at director Gerard Johnstone's first moments into his murderous AI saga
June 27, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
The Coldest Open: How Danny Boyle introduces an all new type of zombie (and an all type of new zombie movie) in 28 Days Later
Even before we meet Cillian Murphy's Jim or get a facefull of zombies that *can actually run,* Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland hook us for what's become the most innovative zombie movie of this century (so far)
June 20, 2025
Grant DeArmitt
Features
The Coldest Open: Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th is un-campy camp horror with a killer score
In the first edition of The Coldest Open, where we judge the most infamous opening scenes of horror history, we're tackling the movie that introduces us to the Voorhees family
June 13, 2025
Grant DeArmitt