Some kids are weird enough without the backdrop of a horror movie. But add suspense and the supernatural to their strangeness, and those kids go from weird to just plain creepy.
I’m not sure what it is about children that takes a horror movie from scary to just plain terrifying. But from Danny Torrance croaking ‘Redrum’ to Haley Joel Osment seeing dead people, here’s a roundup of some of the creepiest kids in horror movies.
The Exorcist: Regan MacNeil
As ridiculous as the gore and horror may seem now, as a kid, The Exorcist had me pissing myself. For weeks, sleep was not an option, as I kept involuntarily replaying the scene in which Regan violates herself via crucifix in my head. Even now, that little brat gives me the shivers. I mean, it wasn’t her fault, she was possessed and all, but still. Is adoption still an option at that age? Because, bless her heart, but if that were my kid, she would come home from school to find the locks mysteriously changed.
Years after playing the little disturbed little demon girl, Linda Blair is convinced that she’s cursed by The Exorcist. Why, you ask? Is her house haunted? Have all of her pets died within a week? Has every man she’s loved suffered a horrible demise?
Naw, she just can’t get work. She told the New York Daily News:
“Why can Anthony Hopkins play the other most horrific character in film history, then go on to do wonderful dramatic, romantic leads and so on? And with me, they are much more difficult, and that hurts my feelings. For me, I think The Exorcist has been a very interesting cross to bear.”
The Sixth Sense: Cole Sear
It’s turned into a parody, but when Haley Joel Osment first whispered, “I see dead people,” that shit was terrifying.
Mischa Barton also starred in the movie, taking on a pretty creepy role herself. She played one of the aforementioned dead people.
The Shining: Danny Torrance
He was such a cute kid, but man, that finger-talking was really creepy. And once we realized what ‘redrum’ meant? fughetaboutit. Danny Torrance became one of the creepiest vessels for the dead ever.
Interestingly, Stanley Kubrick was able to shoot the entire movie without Danny Lloyd, the then-child actor who played Torrance, knowing it was a horror movie.
Today, Lloyd is a biology professor at a community college in Kentucky. I wonder how often he’s asked to “do the voice.”
Village of the Damned
As if a ton of Aryan-looking children wasn’t scary enough, these brats had glowing eyes and could communicate with each other telepathically.
Probably the creepiest shot in the movie was the last one?where the children’s eyes are seen glowing through the smoke and fire of a burning building.
Twilight Zone: Anthony Fremont
The Twilight Zone produced some creepy shit in its heyday, but probably the most terrifying was Anthony Fremont, the hypersensitive terror in the episode titled: “It’s a Good Life.”
In the episode, Anthony could apparently tell when people were thinking bad thoughts. And when they did, Anthony lost his shit. He destroyed electricity, induced crappy weather and, in the end, turned someone into a jack-in-the-box. Very unsettling.
The Good Son: Henry Evans
Macaulay Culkin’s depiction of a psychotic little boy in The Good Son was especially creepy because we knew him as the cute little scamp in the Home Alone movies.
In the movie, Culkin’s character is a child murderer who tries to kill his family members.
Yeah. When his parents went on vacation without him, they should’ve just stayed.
Anyway, that’s my list. Which creepy kids from horror movie have scared the shit out of you?
SewerUrchin says
Sadako from The Ring (Samara in the remake). When you finally get a proper glimpse of her face, it’s fucking horrifying.
Royce says
Carrie-Ann from Poltergeist. She was horrifyingly cute!
Annabelle says
Great article Nic! Perhaps the innocence associated with children brings most people to an uncomfortable level when they are portrayed as symbols of evil or the supernatural. I
Kerrie says
The little boy from Pet Sematary!
Lynn says
The Bad Seed. Patty Mccormack…
Rosemary’s Baby.