Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Custom Image by Alex Valentino
Despite their supposed innocence, kids can make for some surprisingly spooky horror villains, showing up from time to time in movies and TV to creep out audiences with chilling efficacy. Some of the best horror movies use children to enhance a greater threat as creepy set dressing or serve as the antagonist themselves. Whether they're stealing the show with the lead body count as a villain or simply existing to unnerve the protagonist (and by extension, the audience), a child can be the best way to give a viewer goosebumps.
There are several reasons kids can work so well as creepy characters. The innocent connotations children have by default can become quite sinister when used in a distressing way, enhancing the scares. The best child performances can also be shocking when put to insidious ends, with viewers letting their guard down around a kid actor only to be terrorized by them.
10 The Grady Twins
The Shining
Few movie characters are famous enough to become a trope in their own right. Thanks to their ubiquity as a creepy image, the eerie hand-holding twin ghosts produced by the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece The Shining have become an endlessly parodied and homaged pop culture staple.
Related
“Anghkooey”: What The Kids In From’s Season 2 Finale Are Saying & What It Means
Tabitha and Jade have had visions of children mysteriously saying the word "anghkooey" throughout From season 2 – here's what it could mean.
Interestingly, the twins don't actually appear in the original Stephen King novel, being one of the many changes The Shining makes to the book, much to King's own chagrin. Despite how much they stand out, the Grady twins don't actually feature all that heavily in the film, being just one of many haunting specters the Overlook Hotel uses to torture its new caretakers.
Stanley Kubrick's horror classic starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall tells the story of the Torrance family, who move to the isolated Overlook Hotel so that father Jack Torrance can act as its winter caretaker. Stuck at the hotel due to the winter storms, the malevolent supernatural forces inhabiting the building slowly begin to drive Jack insane, causing his wife and psychically gifted son to be caught up in a fight for their lives when Jack is pushed over the edge.
Release Date June 13, 1980
Runtime 146 minutes
An omnious portent of Jack's psychosis, the twins are the last children to be murdered by their father thanks to the mania induced by the evil location. From the way they move in uncanny coordination to their anachronistic clothing, the shocking sight of the Grady twins is one of the freakiest events Danny has to witness.
9 Damien Thorn
The Omen
Far more than just mere set dressing, Damien Thorn is the major antagonist of both the original 1976 classic The Omen and its 2006 re-make. It quickly becomes clear that the orphaned boy is a special child, as his latest adoptive father learns when death seems to grow in the boy's wake.
The Omen
The Omen is a classic supernatural horror film that follows a family that begins seeing a dark change in their son as he ages. Unbeknownst to his wife, Kathy, Robert Thorn sees that their child has died during birth and is aided by a chaplain to replace the deceased child with a newborn orphan and raise him as their own. As the years pass, increasingly violent incidents, including the suicide of the family nanny, begin to occur around their son, Damien. Little do the parents know, the child they took on is actually the antichrist.
Release Date June 25, 1976
Cast Lee Remick , gregory peck , David Warner , Billie Whitelaw , Harvey Stephens
Runtime 111 minutes
When his actual infernal parentage becomes clear, it's all but too late. Part of what makes Damien work as a central horror movie villain is his strong child performances.
His ominous smile at the end of the film is as chilling an image as any ax-wielding murderer.
Harvey Spencer Stephens is particularly frightening in the original, conveying a kind of burning malice that makes him terrifying in his own right before any supernatural implications even enter the picture. His ominous smile at the end of the film is as chilling an image as any ax-wielding murderer, driving home the enduring horror of the anti-Christ made flesh.
8 Lonnie
Deliverance
Back on the subject of kids that are more set dressing than central antagonists, Lonnie of Deliverance fame is intimidating in a far more tangible, realistic way. The film follows a quartet of city-slicker friends who embark on a canoe trip in the remote Georgia wilderness only to be ambushed by depraved mountain men. While in town, the four meet an odd boy named Lonnie, whose intimidating glower should've been their first clue that something was amiss.
Deliverance, directed by John Boorman, follows outdoor enthusiast Lewis Medlock and his friends on a perilous river-rafting trip through the American back-country, as they attempt to experience the Cahulawassee River before it becomes a reservoir. Released in 1972, the film explores themes of survival and human endurance.
Director John Boorman
Release Date July 30, 1972
Runtime 1hr 49m
Granted, Lonnie's famous musical duel with one of the vacationers is a wholesome moment that went on to become one of the most recognizable pieces of banjo music ever thanks to the movie. However, Lonnie's quick attitude change, cold indifference, and refusal to speak to the outsider beyond troubled grunts of joy should've been the group's cue to turn around. The spine-chilling performance of Lonnie's child actor is one of the many ways Deliverance holds up today, even years later.
7 Isaac
Children of the Corn
Even if Isaac himself isn't technically the driving evil force of Children of the Corn, his malicious presence is easily one of the film's most memorable aspects. Based on the Stephen King novel, Children of the Corn centers on a couple traveling across the country who stumble across the troubled town of Gatlin, Nebraska. They soon learn that the entire community has been taken over by a child-only cult, led by Isaac, who has gone on to murder all the adults in town as sacrifices to the mysterious demon, "He Who Walks Behind The Rows".
Children of the Corn is a horror film based on Stephen King's short story, directed by Fritz Kiersch. It centers around a couple who stumble upon a desolate town in Nebraska, inhabited only by children following a sinister cult that practices ritualistic murders. The film explores themes of religious fanaticism and the loss of innocence and features notable performances from Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton.
Director Fritz Kiersch
Release Date March 9, 1984
Runtime 92 minutes
Isaac's wicked charisma as a cult leader is what makes him so intimidating, even though his zealous cult of fanatics ultimately turns on him. The blood-curdling cries of his death amid the rows of corn is one of the film's most memorable sequences, made all the more satisfying by his earlier intimidation. Isaac is representative of a very real evil use of the powers of persuasion - It's unlikely to ever meet a pair of ghosts like the Grady twins, but an Isaac could haunt one's real life.
6 Toshio
Ju-On: The Grudge
Ju-On: The Grudge is full of intimidating ghosts, but the twisted innocence of Toshio has remained by far the most iconic image of the entire Grudge franchise. One of the original victims of the film's generational curse, Toshio was cruelly murdered by his jealous father when he learned of his mother's infidelity.
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002) is a Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu. The narrative unfolds through a series of non-linear, intersecting vignettes that detail the curse created when someone dies in a state of extreme rage or sorrow. This curse haunts the house where the deaths occurred, affecting anyone who dares enter. The film's unsettling atmosphere and intricate storytelling have garnered it significant acclaim in the horror genre.
Director Takashi Shimizu
Release Date January 25, 2003
Writers Takashi Shimizu
Cast Megumi Okina , Misaki Ito , Misa Uehara , Yui Ichikawa , Kanji Tsuda , Kayoko Shibata , Yukako Kukuri , Shuri Matsuda
Runtime 92 Minutes
After dispatching his father, the spectral boy goes on to haunt anyone who steps foot in his former residence, following them to their own graves. In any other context, Toshio's adorable chubby cheeks and curious eyes would be downright cute.
But from the shadowy corners of a poorly-lit hall with his haunting, pale visage and pitch-black pupils,
Toshio is no friendly kid, a fact he quickly proves to the curse's next victims. While he doesn't do any killing himself, his appearance is a sign of sure death, as his vengeful mother Kayako is never far behind.
5 The Boy
Vivarium
Child-rearing is never an easy task, doubly so when suddenly thrust upon someone who isn't ready. All that and more is compounded in Vivarium, in which a young couple seeking a home become trapped in a pocket dimension of never-ending suburbia. Things are bad enough with the pair's fraying relationship and mental sanity as they struggle to survive off the mysterious freeze-dried food left for them by their mysterious captors. Eventually, a seemingly-human child is left on their doorstep, alongside a note - "Raise the child and be released".
Vivarium is a science fiction thriller directed by Lorcan Finnegan. The film stars Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg as a young couple searching for their first home. They become trapped in a mysterious, labyrinthine suburban neighborhood with no means of escape and gradually unravel the sinister reality behind their confinement.
Director Lorcan Finnegan
Release Date September 7, 2019
Writers Garret Shanley
Runtime 97 Minutes
The child, simply referred to as "The Boy", grows up to be anything but a normal kid, displaying an eerie indifference to his situation and growing to the size of a 10-year-old in less than 100 days. If that weren't creepy enough, The Boy is also fond of unerringly copying his "mother" and screeching an unholy yell alongside the inflation of a disgusting neck sack. Even if he doesn't stay a boy for long, The Boy is easily one of the most disturbing child villains in modern horror.
4 Anthony Fremont
The Twilight Zone
Movies by no means have a monopoly of the best takes on terrifying kids. One of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone, the famed black-and-white variety horror series, revolves around a powerful, horrifying boy named Anthony Fremont In season 3, episode 8, "It's A Good Life", viewers are taken to a small town in which a petulant young boy named Anthony has the entire community in a chokehold thanks to his special powers.
The Twilight Zone (1985) is a revival of Rod Serling's classic anthology series, delivering eerie tales of suspense, horror, and the supernatural. The series explores the human condition through stand-alone episodes, often with unexpected twists and moral lessons, retaining the essence of the original 1959-1964 series while updating the storytelling for a new generation.
Release Date September 27, 1985
Seasons 3
Creator(s) Rod Serling
What makes Anthony so unnerving is the fact that he doesn't behave all that differently from the average tantrum-prone spoiled kid one might encounter at the average children's birthday party. It's easy to imagine a power-tripping child would really act like this if bestowed with Anthony's god-like abilities, sold by the brilliant actor's junior performance. Another element of the terror is the mystery behind the powers themselves, with the supposed "cornfield" Anthony sends those who get on his bad side never actually being shown.
3 Umbrae
Us
Jordan Peele's Us may somewhat pale in comparison to his other two horror films, but it at least did manage to get across some potent scares. The movie follows a vacationing family who are attacked by a horrifying family of doppelgängers, with each of them having a twisted double.
Written and directed by Jordan Peele, Us follows the Wilson family; Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) and her husband Gabe (Winston Duke), and their children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). When visiting a remote lakeside cabin, the Wilson family is beset by exact doppelgangers of themselves, who quickly disclose that they mean their counterparts harm. The Wilson family is forced to fight for their lives against twisted mirror images of themselves, not realizing that there are more doppelgangers out there.
Release Date March 22, 2019
Easily the scariest of them is Umbrae, the double of teen daughter Zora. It says something that Red, the double of Lupita Nyong'o's Addy, calls Umbrae a "monster" when introducing her twisted family.
Umbrae makes a huge impression in the handful of scenes she's in, presenting one of the most lasting scares of Us.
Similarly to her counterpart, Umbrae seems to have an affinity for running, preferring to play with her food by chasing down victims, giving them a generous head start to keep things fair. From her inhuman flexibility and agility to her haunting silent stare, Umbrae makes a huge impression in the handful of scenes she's in, presenting one of the most lasting scares of Us.
2 Charlie
Hereditary
One of the scariest horror movies of all time, it's no surprise that Ari Aster's masterpiece Hereditary features one of the creepiest cinematic children ever. Charlie at first appears to be simply a troubled kid with an intellectual disability, struggling alongside the rest of her family in the wake of her grandmother's death. However, something sinister seems to be lurking beneath the surface when Charlie lops off a bird's head with a pair of scissors, with ancient ancestral secrets implying she might be something else altogether.
The feature film debut of writer-director Ari Aster, Hereditary tells the story of the unwittingly cursed Graham family. Annie Graham (Toni Collette) lives with her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their children Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). After the death of Annie's mother, the family is beset by disaster and stalked by a supernatural entity that dredges up a past that Annie had spent her life trying to overlook.
Release Date June 8, 2018
Cast Toni Collette , Milly Shapiro , Zachary Arthur , Gabriel Byrne , Mallory Bechtel , Alex Wolff , Ann Dowd
Runtime 2h 7m
Charlie's mannerisms and penchant for torturing animals are scary enough, not to mention her habit of making clicking sounds with her mouth. Whether she's actually present in a scene or not, Charlie has a domineering presence throughout the entire narrative for reasons that only become clear later on. Re-watching the film armed with the knowledge of the horrifying ending only makes Charlie's behavior all the more terrifying.
1 Regan
The Exorcist
Perhaps the original scary movie child, Regan from The Exorcist is one of the eeriest horror movie characters ever, let alone under a certain age. The classic possession story that influenced an entire subgenre revolves around Regan, a simple young girl who became the living quarters of a ferocious demon. Possessing Regan's body, the demon makes her unassuming form into one of the most appalling horror villains ever conceived.
The Exorcist is a supernatural horror film based on the novel released in 1971 and was directed by William Friedkin. When a young girl is passed by a powerful demon, two Catholic priests are brought to her home to attempt an exorcism to expunge the demon.
Director William Friedkin
Release Date December 26, 1973
Cast Max Von Sydow , Linda Blair , Lee J. Cobb , Ellen Burstyn , Jason Miller , Kitty Winn , Jack MacGowran
Runtime 122 minutes
Linda Blair's performance in The Exorcist is nothing short of legendary as she believably spouts profanity from a gravelly demonic voice, spinning her decaying visage around like an owl. What truly makes the character so creepy is the hints of the innocent girl trapped within fighting to be free, with the demon straining against the efforts of the exorcism at the expense of Regan's body. The healthy, content Regan seen briefly at the beginning provides a sharp contrast to the chilling transformation, making it all the more frightful.
English (US) ·