Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht

As opening shots go, footage of dead, decomposed babies and children, their faces contorted into richtuses of terror and howls of pain is probably one of the clearest projections for the tone of the ensuing film that I've ever come across. Couple this with slow motion shots of bats flying in the dark (used repeatedly throughout the entire film whenever director Werner Herzog takes his fancy, regardless of it's relevance to the plot) and a woman (Isabelle Adjani) waking up screaming to said bat flying around her window and you're left with no uncertainty that this isn't quite your average vampire film.