I’m not a big fan of the film Orphan. However, I was motivated to compile this list after seeing it, so it wasn’t a total loss. Seriously, that big “twist” in Orphan was so… What’s the word? Oh Yeah, CRAP!
30) Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Zombie Baby - Admit it you’ve seen uglier babies. For me this was a big highlight of the film. I wish the little guy had lived longer, he looked really hungry. Luckily there are other films with hungry mutant babies to fill the void that this left.
29) The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993)-Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman – Okay, so Wednesday and Pugsley never killed anyone in these films, but not for lack of trying! You have to admit they enjoy playing some gruesome little games. Unless you’re an Addams your playroom probably wasn’t equipped with blow torches (although they did wear personal protective equipment) and a guillotine.
28) It’s Alive (1974) – Reviews keep using the terms “funny” and “hilarious” to describe this Larry Cohen film but I just don’t get the big joke. This mutant little monster is only shown in very brief glimpses. It kills people and you watch the sad downward spiral of its parents as the little mutant baby is being hunted down by professionals for execution. The baby was supposed to be a side effect of prescription medicine. This film spawned two sequels but I have no intention of watching either. I did just watch the remake It’s Alive (2008) with Bijou Philips. This version made more sense to me than the original. In the remake the monster baby is really attached to its mother. You watch the mother slowly become unhinged cleaning up after her very hungry baby.
27) The Ring (2002)-Daveigh Chase played creepy little Samara Morgan. You know the evil little girl spirit in the nightgown with the long stringy hair who kills you 7 days after you watch her cursed video tape. I love it when the Naomi Watts character is watching video footage of Samara from the mental hospital. The kid just sits there hour after hour after hour never moving. Pretty creepy! Not to mention a big waste of video tape. I also love watching her crawl out of that well.
26) Offspring (2009) - Film about a group of feral cannibal humans living in the forests of Maine. The group includes 3 little kids that laugh as they stab and eat you. The kids looked pretty humorous with their ratted hair and tribal clothing. Lots of blood though!
25) Twins in Shining (1980) - Hands down, these little girls are the creepiest thing in that entire movie.
24) Grace (2009) – Grace is the most adorable undead baby you will ever lay eyes on. Grace returns from the dead to be with her mother. Of course this complicates things because Grace is special and she needs a special diet. Not for the squeamish. Grace is a healthy eater. I think I want to be Grace’s Mom for Halloween.
23) Wicked Little Things (2006) – I love zombies and I love ghosts. These little kids are actually zombie ghosts that will tear the flesh right off you for a meal. A horrible mining accident in 1913 trapped dozens of children burying them alive underground. These little zombie ghosts are hungry and rightfully out for revenge.
22) Alice Sweet Alice (1976) – Paula Sheppard – The title of this film confuses me. Alice is a miserable little girl. She’s not only creepy but she is also really freakin’ annoying, manipulative, mean, and demented. Her parents should have left her in that mental hospital.
21) Devil Times Five (1974) – I love this film. It’s so bad it’s good. The only survivors of a bus crash in the snow are 5 young children. I should mention these young survivors are from the children’s ward of the state psychiatric hospital. These kids have no conscience and are pretty creative with their assassinations. A young Leif Garrett stars as one of the children.
20) Carrie (1976)-Sissy Spacek - I included Carrie in this list because she starts out more sweet and naive than most of the kids on this list. Plus after seeing this I’ve always wanted the power of telekinesis. I would never take out an entire group of my peers. At least not all at once. I don’t like to draw attention to myself.
19) The Children (1980) - Nuclear power and deadly hugs from Troma. These little darlings will melt the skin right off the bone with a firm embrace. Damn nuclear waste. Damn children.
18) Battle Royale (2004) – Here is how the military experiment named ”The Program” works. 50 classes of 14-15 year old students are taken to an isolated island and forced to fight to the death until one student remains. The teenagers are all given minimal supplies and have collars with tracking and listening devices. The collars are also armed with a bomb that will detonate if the wearer tries to escape or if nobody dies in 24 hours. I would never give away any more of the storyline but needless to say all hell breaks loose and I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
17) The Calling (2000)- Alex Roe Brown – I originally dismissed this film as a rip off of The Omen and didn’t even bother seeing it. I recently viewed the film and while The Calling has a couple of strong similarities to The Omen, it holds its own with a unique telling of the Antichrist here on earth. The world falls in love with young Dylan and you can’t blame them. He is pretty cute and charming when he isn’t being sadistic. No matter what his mother tries, the satanists are always one step ahead of her. Surprisingly good film. Loved the ending!
16) The Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)- Asia Vieria – Delia is an adopted child and horror and destruction just seem to follow this little girl everywhere. Several people die under mysterious circumstances and Delia’s mother starts suspecting little Delia is not what she seems. Sound familiar? Delia is actually Damien’s daughter so that makes her Satan’s granddaughter. What more do you need to know?
15) Joshua (2007) -Jacob Kogan- Joshua is an evil little genius. He is a murderer and a master manipulator who destroys his own family in order to get what he wants. Joshua sadistically tears his family apart just so he can live with his uncle. He makes his mother think she is losing her mind, convinces a social worker he is being abused, and it all escalates from there. The ending of the film was pretty weird. Joshua writes a little tune he sings while playing the piano confessing what he had done to his uncle.
14) Little Red Riding Hood (2005) – Susan Satta as Jenny – This is my personal favorite and possibly the least familiar on the list. The tag line is “God forgives, Jenny doesn’t“. Jenny brutally murders adults she finds guilty of crimes like theft and adultery with her imaginary friend (a giant wolf). But it’s what she does to her own Grandmother that is really cringe worthy.
13) The Lord of the Flies (1990)- Chris Furrh as Jack -You probably had to read this book in junior high school. A group of young boys become castaways and are forced into a survival situation without any adults. The boys end up breaking up into two groups. One group is all about cooperation and togetherness, and the other group is all about cruelty and ruthless survival. Jack is the leader of the latter group.
12) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) – Jodi Foster – I love the tag-line for this movie; “Ask her no questions and nobody dies”. You almost feel a bit bad for 13 year old Rynn. She has a lot of secrets and all these damn adults keep bothering her. Her nosey landlady, the police chief, and the town pedophile won’t leave her alone. A girls gotta look out for herself. Excellent ending. Amazing performance by Foster.
11) Village of the Damned (1995) - This might annoy some of you, but I prefer the John Carpenter version to the 1960 version. It’s just scarier to me, and I think the acting is better. Sadistic aliens posing as human children. Fantastic!
10) The Exorcist (1973) – Linda Blair- Poor innocent little Regan is possessed by Satan himself. The possession of this sweet girl transforms her into an unrecognizable head spinning monstrosity. Even though Regan didn’t really cause too much destruction (beside the rug she peed on, that bed wasn’t really usable when she was finished with it, and I don’t know how much difficulty the priest had getting demon vomit out of his clothes) she is definitely scary. That plus the puking, swearing and crucifix masturbation gets her a spot on the top part of my list.
9) Who Can Kill a Child? (1978) – This is an excellent film with an entire island of children gone wild. A tourist couple travels to a small isolated island where the children have murdered most all of the adults. Big twist I didn’t see coming with the pregnant lady near the end. Many scenes with groups of kids attacking to kill. But the film asks “Who can kill a child?”
8) Pet Sematary (1989)- Miko Hughes – Little Gage is the cutest kid on this list. He was only evil because his father buried his dead body in cursed grounds. Once the little guy did come back he wreaked some pretty decent havoc. The scene where he slices through Mr. Crandall’s Achilles tendon has been embedded in my mind since I first saw this film in the theater. Also memorable is the phone call he makes to his already traumatized mother ” I want to play with you” followed with that grisly little giggle.
7) The Omen (1976) – Harvey Stephens – The Anti-Christ had to make the top ten evil children list! Damien is satanic by nature but his countenance is that of an angel. The character Damien is featured in three films; The Omen, The Omen II, and The Omen III: The Final Conflict. Different actors play Damien in each film yet I feel Harvey Stephens from the original film is the most disturbing probably because he is the youngest and most innocent looking.
6) – The Children of the Corn (1984)-John Franklin- A bible preaching kid who has such a powerful influence over the other kids he convinces them to kill all of the adults in town. Not even 18 and already leading his own cult! You almost feel sorry for him when he ends up the sacrifice, almost.
5) Interview With a Vampire (1994)- Kirsten Dunst – Claudia the child vampire uses her size and beauty to her advantage when attracting a meal. Although a cold blooded killer you can’t help but feel sorry for her being trapped in a child’s body for more than 30 years. For me, her scariest moment was when she slit Lestat’s throat.
4) Mikey (1992)- Brian Bonsall -Sweet one moment and uncontrollable the next Mikey murdered his own family and then terrorizes the nice family who adopts him. Brian Bonsall the adorable little boy from Family Ties is very convincing as the extremely intelligent little psycho who will stop at nothing to get his way. He murders by electrocution and shoots people with his slingshot and deadly bow and arrow.
3) The Good Son (1993)- Macaulay Culkin -The adorable and charming Henry is another angelic looking youngster that loves deadly games. In this film nobody knows about Henry except his cousin Mark (Elijah Wood). Henry is a master manipulator void of any conscience who has all of the adults believing Mark is the one wanting to hurt people. Of course no one believes Mark and he is left alone to deal with Henry until the end.
2) Halloween (2007)- Daeg Faerch – Rob Zombie’s Halloween got a lot of harsh criticism but I really enjoyed watching young Michael Myers. In the beginning he seemed to have a selective sense of conscience. Most memorable to me is the scene where Michael is just sitting on the front step, holding his baby sister, smiling and waiting for his Mom to come home after he had just murdered his sister and stepfather. It was as if nothing happened, and you believe he has no intention of harming his baby sister.
1) The Bad Seed (1956)- Patty McCormick - The adorable and seemingly perfect little Rhoda is easily the most frightening child on this list. Beneath her sweet and polite persona is a merciless killer. She even manipulates her mother to protect her after she confesses to beating a classmate to death with her shoes. Overall Rhoda is responsible for slipping “on purpose” to push an old lady down the stairs, beating a boy then drowning him, and burning a man alive. She is premeditating another murder right before the surprising end of the film.
Hey there, Peacefulgirl. I like your list. Here are some of my thoughts on it.
I also remember Miko Hughes (“Pet Cemetary”) from “Kindergarten Cop” as the little boy who says, “Boys have penises, girls have vaginas.”
Samara Morgan from “The Ring” was a creepy character. I remember when how she climbed out of that well, but what about when she crawls out of the TV. Now that was scary.
Lastly, you had an interesting take on “Carrie”. I saw Carrie as more of an underdog than an evil child. Much like Emily Bergl’s character on “The Rage: Carrie 2″.
Keep up the good work.
Wow! I didn’t even know there were so many evil kid movies dating so far back. Kids are very scary. Some of them can be pretty manipulative. It is also scary how the authorities are always on their side because they are suppose to be young and innocent.
That is a good point Irene. Most don’t believe or don’t want to believe that a child would be capable of extreme violence. That adds to the terror and probably overall appeal of films like these. The scariest kids on this list are not the zombies, aliens, or the posessed. The scariest kids are the ones that seem normal but commit horrific acts of violence without remorse and manipulate all of the adults in the process.