It is vital in any movie to capture an audience from the very beginning. Attention spans are short and only seem to be getting shorter, and so those first few moments are key to keeping interest and giving viewers a good reason to get invested and stick around.
There are literally countless ways to do this, but what about the death of a character? Rip that comfort blanket away and get the audience on the edge of their seats immediately – it’s one hell of a way of kicking things off.
But how about going another step further and not just killing off any old character, but a damn good one? Nothing grabs attention quite like quickly dispatching someone who had already made a connection with those watching in such a short space of time. Then, there are those that are killed at the start, but are kept around to have an impact on the story for a while longer, be it with flashbacks, resurrection, or something in between.
From characters who made a massive impact in just a single scene, to those who found further exploration in the afterlife, here are more great movie characters that died pretty much as soon as they arrived.
Though it referenced just about every iconic horror franchise throughout, Wes Craven’s Scream launched what would ultimately join the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween on that list. A big part of this was the shocking opening scenes that included Drew Barrymore.
The star had been at the centre of Scream’s marketing campaign, and her character Casey Becker was seemingly all set to be the film’s main protagonist. However, just over 10 minutes in, Casey was killed by Ghostface.
In those fleeting moments before she was gutted and hanged, Casey left an impression that has lasted all these years later. During the iconic phone call that opened the movie, she was funny, she tried to fight back, and proved that although Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) was a strong protagonist in her own right, Casey easily could have carried the film herself.
Barrymore was actually initially cast as Sydney, but asked to portray Casey instead so as to immediately remove any notions the audience may have had over that character. If Drew Barrymore could be killed off in the first quarter of an hour, then who knew what else to expect? No one was safe.