Is the opening scene of When a Stranger Calls one of the most tense pieces in cinema history?

[lifelessheap]

The most tense scene in any movie ever was when the ant was fighting the scorpion in Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It was an epic battle where the kind ant sacrificed himself for his new friends.

I wept after the battle ended.

 

[Plissken]

I thought the ending was better than the opening.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Definitely an all-time great opening. Can't remember anything other than that and the rest of the film not being very good.

 

[TrueBias]

A while back I took an Intro to Film class and the instructor liked to show various scenes from movies to illustrate whatever he was talking about. For an example of how to effectively build tension, he used the opening scene of the original When a Stranger Calls from 1979.

After watching the scene, I had to agree with him. I'm not sure how it would play to younger audiences, but I did indeed find it very effective. Out of everything that we watched in that class, this is probably the thing that stuck with me the most.

Has anyone here watched it? If so, what did you think?

If you haven't seen it, wait until you can shut the lights off and avoid all distractions--turn your fucking phone off!--and check it out:

I first saw clips of this movie in Terror in the Aisles:



That movie is basically a 90 min montage of pre 85 horror movies that i used as a reference guide to watch, making your movie one of the first. I HIGHLY recommend watching this to get more suggestions.

As far as the movie, rhe beginning is awesome and its because of the sound. There is constant still silence until that fucking LOUD bell of a phone ring. On the other side theres a pause, followed by a soft, articulate voice. Its amazing.

The rest? Bahhhhh, do i have this right... Does the guy get out of jail, try to live a life, then tries to attack the woman again? The tone, along with our star changes after the great scene. Its shit.

 

[blitzk]

I think this was a memorable tension build up scene that was a bit different to the usual sequences in action, thriller or horror films.



Also in Basterds, the bar scene with Fassbender and Kruger was pretty good.

 

[Daverisimo]

Not an opening, but the first scene after the opening credits.



Sergio Leone was a master at using silence to build tension