Kill Bill Vol 1 Opening - Thriller Features

Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller


Possible Spoilers Below - Take care!

The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of. - IMDb

Kill Bill Vol 1 was released as a "Feature Film but had many "B Movie" elements as Quentin Tarantino was greatly influenced by "B Movies". A "B Movie" is normally a low budget production which would normally been shown before the main "feature film" you would see in the cinema around in the 50's. These "B Movies" often had bad quality soundtracks, didn't feature any popular actors or actresses and had a very low budget to go by. "B Movies" are no longer shown before the feature films as we don't have "double bills" in cinemas these days. 

Kill Bill Vol 1- Opening Scene 

The original clip which I've used has unlucky been removed/blocked
due to copyright issues on YouTube. I have enabled another version below but
it does not contain the company titles or the song at the end.

Kill Bill Vol 1's opening scene started with a tribute to the "Noir" films. "Noir" means that the film was very dark, gloomy and often in black and white. After the opening scene we learn that 4 years in the film have past since, then the film turns into colour. This colour change represents the memory we saw at the beginning.

In the beginning of "Kill Bill Vol 1" the film starts off with an "Old Klingon Proverb" - a slight comical joke by Quentin Tarantino which holds an important meaning about "Kill Bill Vol 1".

"Revenge is a dish best served cold"

Quentin Tarantino started his film with this quote to establish the film's genre and purpose. He wants us to know that this film is going to be about revenge. The revenge in this film will be "served cold"  which suggests that in this film, cold blooded violence will be included .

Also in the opening scene of "Kill Bill Vol 1" we hear a woman breathing deeply while the title credits are rolling. The woman's breathing is a diegetic sound. This is when we hear a sound while there is no visible image of the woman breathing. The heavy breathing sets a sense of terror and creates an atmosphere which is very tense - We're literally shivering  in our seats to find out what happens next. 

After the production titles have finished, the woman who is the main character who we learn is called "The Bride" is shown on the floor, with blood stains all over her face. The we see a figure's feet walking towards her slowing. We start to wonder who is this figure? What are they doing? Bill is an enigma - something which we cant see, very mysterious. 

Then the figure is towering above the woman, an old looking hand (a mans) starts to wipe the blood of The Brides face with a handkerchief which has the name "Bill" imprinted on it. This suggests that Bill is very "full of himself". Bill is also talking to The Bride in a manor that is very sadic. This means that he enjoys cruelty and pain. The scene has many thriller elements. These are listed below:

• Innocent Victim
• Characters with dark pasts
• Twisted relationships
• Duplicitous individuals

The opening scene is very tense and chilling to watch, especially when we hear a gun shot from a gun right after The Bride tells Bill: "Bill, it's your baby....*BANG!*". This made everybody jump right up in their seats while watching it in our media studies lesson. It still makes me jump after watching it many times on DVD. This is very well timed by Quentin Tarantino and backs up he wanted the film to be about violence, terror and full of suspense which will make you cling for your life onto the chair your sitting on like a real thriller should do.

Even the music played after this scene suggests that the film is about:

• Revenge
• Death
• Innocent victims
• Twisted relationships
• Dark
• Gloomy
• Deception

The song featured is called "Bang Bang" by Nancy Sinatra.