10 films that prove kids are scary

In celebration of Halloween which will be here before we know it, I thought I’d be a bit lazy and repost this from last year because what’s scarier than kids…?

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It’s a fact universally acknowledged that children are scary.  Well, maybe not real ones, but movie kids?  That’s another matter entirely.  So in honour of Halloween, I’ve compiled a list of some of the scariest movie children.

All the Kind Strangers

A little gem of a film this one, with not just one, but a whole gaggle of scary kids.  I wrote about this one before, and you can see it here.

They just want to be like any other family

 The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane

Jodie Foster is in fine, chilling form as the mysterious little girl who seems to be living on her own.  I only saw this at the weekend so it’s fresh in my memory, and from my write up which you can see here.

More tea?

The Shining

Now, most people cite the Grady twins as the source of their unease when they talk about creepy kids in Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining, but for my money, you want to be looking at Danny.  Sure he’s cute, but cute and creepy aren’t mutually exclusive.  I can’t have been the only one to get a cold shiver whenever he talked to his own finger.  Redrum, anyone?  [Shudder].

Creepier!

Creepy!

Ringu

I first saw this film really late one night on TV.  On my own.  In my basement bedroom.  Of my shared house.  When all my house-mates were out.  I basically shit myself.  I mean, did you see it?  She crawls out of the telly!  And you’re watching it on telly!  That makes it bloody scary!

Sadako

Ju-on

I don’t even remember what this was about but bloody hell, how scary was that little boy?  And that weird noise?  I do it at home to freak my boyfriend out, so that’s fun too.

Dark Water

Another Japanese offering.  Another ghost of a dead kid.  Damn, they’re good at this shit!

The Brood

Well, this is some seriously weird shit.  You’ve never seen scary killer kids like this anywhere else, I guarantee.  Plus there’s Oliver Reed, so that’s a bonus.  I’ve already covered this one, here.

Poltergeist

To further support my earlier point about cuteness and creepiness not being mutually exclusive, I give you the delightful yet scary tot Heather O’Roarke as Carol Anne Freeling.  O’Roarke is undeniably adorable but when she intones “they’re heeee-eeeere” I find it genuinely frightening.

Who Can Kill a Child?

What could be scarier than a scary movie child?  A whole island full of the murderous little shits, that’s what!  This one was in my horror top 10, and for good reason – it’s seriously freaky.  Have a look if you like your horror 70s style.

Eden Lake

So, these guys are teenagers but as they’re not old enough to vote, they count as scary kids.  And oh my god are they scary?  These are the kind of kids you’d cross the street to avoid, if you had any sense.  They are truly some of the most vicious and relentlessly violent kids on film.  If you’re interested to know exactly what I thought, have a look here but be warned, Eden Lake is not for the faint-hearted.