Much like terrifying alien births, creepy children are a horror movie staple. There’s something about the juxtaposition between their tiny innocence and their menacing actions that is very unsettling—whether they are possessed by something supernatural or just born that way.
There are many well-known little devils in the classic horror canon, like Damien from The Omen and Regan in The Exorcist, but to kick off spooky season this year, we thought we’d turn our eye to more contemporary horror and select some of the creepiest children in modern cinema. These kiddos rightfully earn their place amongst the other horror movie legends whose sweet, youthful demeanors mask sinister intentions. But be warned, the kids are not alright.
Samuel, The Babadook (2014)
There’s nothing inherently evil or supernatural about Samuel but he is a very difficult child. His scariness lies in how challenging it is to take care of him, especially as a single parent, which his mother, Amelia, is. He has a very big and rambunctious personality and creative imagination, which result in ear-splitting tantrums, violent outbursts, and the hyperactive creation of homemade weapons. Since The Babadook puts us in the mindset of a mother who is dealing with grief, every little thing about Samuel makes the viewer want to explode in anger or frustration. The prospect of raising a child like him is terrifying; no matter how much love you might have for him, the way he constantly bounces off the wall would be a never-ending nightmare.
Charlie, Hereditary (2018)
Charlie from Hereditary is a misunderstood girl who keeps to herself, wears oversized sweatshirts, and always has a dazed and confused look on her face. She enjoys drawing, cutting the head off a pigeon, creating dolls out of twigs and branches, and making peculiar clucking noises. She seems bizarre yet harmless, but the bleak revelations at the end of the film make us see Charlie in a more ominous light.
It turns out that her body is not truly hers but is inhabited by the soul of King Paimon–-an all-powerful ruler of hell–- who is scared and out-of-place in a female form (LOL). Charlie emphasizes what makes Hereditary such a devastating horror film: The characters are powerless, their destinies already decided by the malevolent cult. Charlie’s unsettling behavior is a reflection of her true self trapped, screaming on the inside, completely overtaken by a demon and stripped of her autonomy.
M3GAN, M3GAN (2022)
Technically, M3GAN is a robot but she is nearly indistinguishable from a well-dressed human child—aside from her very pale eyes. Like most tween girls, M3GAN feels deeply and will do anything to protect her best friend, Cady. This includes ripping off the ear of Cady’s childhood bully and killing the neighbor’s dog after an attack. While her loyalty runs deep, M3GAN’s casual and extremely calculated ways of inflicting harm are terrifying. She’ll do a sassy dance number before murdering you because that’s how little she cares and how much fun she’s having.
M3GAN not only makes us afraid of preteens but also the growing danger of AI becoming increasingly autonomous and human-like while retaining its cold, mechanical nature.
Esther, Orphan (2009)
Esther is an orphan who presents herself as a very demure and angelic little girl. She wears doll-like dresses, Peter Pan Collars, bows in her pigtails, and ribbons around her neck. Her well-mannered behavior and painting talents make her an immediate choice to be adopted by an American family. She exhibits strange behaviors—such as observing her adopted parents in intimate moments or pushing her sibling off a playground. They become worse as the film goes on until we learn the source of all her violent frustrations: Esther is actually a grown, 33-year-old woman who looks like a 9-year-old girl, and she’s taking her rage out on everyone for not being able to enjoy life as a normal adult.
Elias and Lukas, Goodnight Mommy (2022)
Goodnight Mommy features double trouble—not just one creepy kid, but two. Elias and Lukas, active twin boys with well-groomed bowl cuts, are inseparable. But the fun summer days at their sprawling lakeside property are disrupted when their mother undergoes cosmetic facial surgery. She returns home with bandages around her face and odd behaviors that make the boys question her identity and convince themselves that they must torment her to make her confess who she really is.
What makes the twins so frightening how effortlessly they come up with the sadistic ways to inflict pain upon their mother. They tie her to the bed, Super Glue her lips shut, put cockroaches on her, and even set fire to the lavish family home. Goodnight Mommy delivers twice the evil to show how deep sibling bonds can run, often causing them to influence one another in the worst ways. A child’s boundless imagination can be used for bad ideas just as much as good.
Brandon, Brightburn (2019)
Brightburn has a bold concept: What if a child with Superman-like powers wanted to use those powers for evil? Much like Superman, Brandon’s parents discover him after a spaceship crash. When he turns 12, he develops special powers and a furious aggression, and it doesn’t help that he is socially awkward and bullied at school.
Brandon takes his frustration out on anyone who crosses him, whether it’s the girl he has a crush on but who doesn’t reciprocate, or family members who threaten to stand in his way. He kills without any remorse or concern. Brandon’s outfit—a threadbare ski mask tied with a shoelace, a ratty cape, and a striped t-shirt—blends the everyday look of a child with a makeshift superhero costume. Brightburn mixes elements of sci-fi, comic book mythology, and horror to create one of the scariest kids ever.
Samara, The Ring (2005)
Samara is the ultimate creepy child. It took me years to stop having nightmares about her, and she still gives me chills to this day. She has the power to psychically imprint macabre images into people’s minds and takes pleasure in torturing her adoptive parents and the horses that live on their farm with them. Eventually her mother, Anna, abandons her in a well where Samara manages to live for seven days.
Everything about the way Samara looks is nightmare fuel: her long, stringy black hair covers her decaying, angry face and her plain, ragged dress is drenched in dirty well-water, and she seemingly can’t be escaped. In her quest for vengeance, she spreads a haunted VHS tape filled with her nihilistic visions across the world and literally breaks through the television to kill you. She murders her victims in a gruesome way that makes them understand the torment she experienced at the bottom of the well. They are left with faces twisted and frozen in a permanent scream, horrifying images that burn into your brain forever.
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