In horror films, there are typically two types of children. The first type are the nice and innocent ones that usually foresee the evil forces or beasts that will attack their loved ones.
The adults never believe or listen to them, because after all, they’re just “kids.” (Idiots!) The second types of children are usually the ones that are the evil forces that give adult audiences chills and Goosebumps all over.
After the release of The Omen remake last month, I have realized that there are plenty of horror flicks with creepy ass children in them that freak us out more than Jason and Freddy ever could. Why is that you may be asking?
My theory is that seeing kids in movies not having any of sort moral awareness barometer, only makes us wonder how MORE evil they will be when they have grown up. That’s what I thought about when picking these “demon seeds” for this list. Here is my list of creepy children in movies that make most of the legendary bogeymen look like they should be residing on Sesame Street.
1. Regan/The Exorcist
Okay, if you weren’t disturbed by the first time you saw little Linda Blair masturbate with a crucifix, spew pea soup vomit, turn her head 360 degrees, swearing like a sailor, and turning into one of the most hideous villains in movie history, then you my friend are completely desensitized or you’re probably “Captain Howdy” himself.
2. Damien/The Omen
I’m going to be quite honest with you. I’ve never seen this entire movie. I was very young, and after seeing the number one choice on this list, I refused to see another film that involved the devil and a creepy child.
All I can say is that the final frames of this movie are truly haunting as the camera just stays on young Damien (Harvey Stephens) at the funeral as he gives the most frightening smirk I’ve ever seen to the camera. That one moment gave me goose bumps. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was affected by that key scene.
3. The Twins/The Shining
There are a few notorious lines said in this Stanley Kubrick film. “Redrum” and “Here’s Johnny!” are a few of them. But, it was the line, “Come play with us, Danny” said by the ghosts of the murdered twins that sent chills up my spine. The twins were just eerie. Popping out of nowhere, saying things in unison, and laying in pools of blood. They’re probably the reason why I’ve only watched this classic once.
4. Young Michael/Halloween
Watching the opening scene in this cult classic film where the young Michael Myers stabs his half naked sister to death while wearing a nearly suffocating clown mask taught me two valuable lessons as a child. One was to always lock my bedroom door, and the second lesson was to never piss off my younger brother in any way. What a frightening scene. I wonder how Rob Zombie will recreate it in his upcoming revision of the film.
5. Mikey/Mikey
Even though this movie was a direct straight to video rip-off of the more superior The Good Son, (which is not on the list by the way, because Macaulay Culkin will always be “The cute Home Alone kid” in my eyes.) it still managed to creep me out. Seeing the youngest kid from Family Ties off his foster family by hitting them with baseball bats, drownings, and other inventive ways, was truly disturbing, and I’ve never been able to watch the family friendly show in the same way since.
6. The Children – Village of the Damned
I don’t really remember much of the classic Village of The Damned. The one in my memory is the John Carpenter remake with the late, great Superman (Christopher Reeves) and the former “fat actress” Kirstie Alley. Even this one is hard to remember. Asking me to recall specific details on this movie, is like asking me to recall specific details from the movie version of The Mod Squad.
I do remember really creepy alien children with creepy white hair that looked like they had escaped from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch (well the boys anyways.) to reap havoc upon the entire town. This is the only one on the list that consists of a group of scary children.
7. Aidan-The Ring
All though, Samara was the scariest element of this movie, I thought the other child (played by David Dorfman) creeped me out more. His soulless dark eyes, (how did he get those eyes with two blue-eyed parents anyways?) his weird pictures and monotone voice really made me wonder if this kid was going turn evil eventually. (By the way, stop calling your mother Rachel!)
8. Toshio-Ju-on/The Grudge
This child not only frightened me in the original Japanese horror film, but he was able to do the same thing in the American remake as well. The eyes, the grey makeup, the cat-meowing scream, all were elements of giving me the heebie-jeebies. (a.k.a “scaring the sh*t out of me.)
9. Oleg/Tommy/Adam -Running Scared/ The Butterfly Effect/Godsend
Is it just me, or is this kid just really, really creepy? On interviews, Cameron Bright is sweet and adorable, but in movies he looks like the second spawn of Satan. He hardly smiles, and when he does, it looks as forced as it does when Gillian Anderson smiled on The X-Files. Can somebody out there cast this child as someone with a range of emotions before he gets type cast as “That creepy kid in all those movies?”
10. Dennis-Cabin Fever
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the future child of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. This freakin’ kid has some SERIOUS issues. (And I’m not just talking about that god awful, white trash mullet of his.) If I went to some store, and saw a sign saying not to sit next to some psycho child, I would have been LONG gone. This karate-kicking, pancake-loving kid would never have been close enough to me to bite my ass.
