This just in, dolls are super creepy. Look no further than the recent release of Brahms: The Boy II, which opened last week in the fifth box-office position. Despite the critical drubbing, no one can deny how disturbing the lifelike doll is in the film and how it's used for horrifying ends.
Of course, killer dolls in horror movies have nearly been around since the dawn of cinema. Some like Chucky and Annabelle have propped up their own franchises, while other lower-profile dolls have gone under the radar. To flesh out the best, here are the 10 creepiest horror movie dolls of all!
May's Friend (May)
Let's start with a bit of a changeup. In Lucky McKee's May, a deeply disturbed young woman (Angela Bettis) is so lonely that she decides to build a best friend out of spare doll parts. When things don't quite properly align, more dire measures are taken!
Indeed, when May's doll breaks, she flies into a fit of rage. To rectify the situation, May begins constructing a Frankenstein-like doll out of human body parts instead!
Dolls (The Dolls)
While there isn't one particular doll to call out in the film, the entire roster of titular terrors in the classic 1987 Stuart Gordon horror yarn deserves a collective shoutout!
In The Dolls, a gaggle of motorists stops at a moldering English mansion to sleep for the night. They're greeted by a seemingly sweet pair of dollmakers. However, the lodgers' children discover that the dolls are actually real-life human beings who've been miniaturized and morphed into instruments of death.
Clown Doll (Poltergeist)
One of the scariest parts of Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist is that damn creepy clown doll. Notice how it moves around the room from shot to shot, scene to scene, and the repositioning of its evil face. Frightening!
It starts with the sheer size of the doll, which towers over Robbie, the boy it belongs to. The creepy eyes, big devilish grin, jagged teeth, and ill intent all amount to one of the most harrowing scenes in the film when the doll attacks Robbie under the bed.
Blade (Puppet Master)
Of all Toulon's Puppets in David Schmoeller's 1989 horror flick Puppet Master, it's the leader Blade that proves the most deleterious!
The plot concerns a quartet of psychics, all of whom convene at Bodega Bay Inn after receiving cryptic visions. It turns out said visions were orchestrated by their colleague, a sadistic madman named Neil Gallagher. When the foursome settles into the hotel, Gallagher springs his demonic puppets on the guests, led by Blade.
Billy (Dead Silence)
James Wan clearly has a thing for creepy dolls. Not only did he scare us with Annabelle from The Conjuring franchise, but he planted the seed of deadly dolls in his 2007 film Dead Silence as well!
In Dead Silence, a couple receives an anonymous gift of a ventriloquist doll named Billy. Shortly after playing with Billy, the woman in the couple ends up dead. A clue about Mary Shaw, the town's fabled ventriloquist, is found near the corpse. Soon the malevolent spirit of Mary subsumes Billy and begins an indiscriminate death march of gory proportions!
Brahms (The Boy)
Because of its size, stature, and lifelike nature, Brahms in The Boy franchise has instantly catapulted to the upper-half of creepy movie dolls.
For the uninitiated, the film follows American nanny Greta (Lauren Cohan) who is startled to learn that her new British client is actually an inanimate doll. As Greta begins to spend time in the eerie English manor, she begins to suspect the doll is alive with evil intent. Brahms' parents are just as odd, as they've substituted the doll for their deceased son who died 20 years earlier.
Annabelle (Annabelle)
Annabelle has evolved from a creepy side character in The Conjuring universe to headlining its own damn franchise. Who the hell is the piece of porcelain's agent?
All jesting aside, there's no denying the staying power and increasingly scary movies Annabelle is featured in. The first film was a bit weak. The second film was one of the surprise critical horror hits of the year, and the third film may be the best of the bunch. All told, Annabelle is easily one of the most prodigious creepy-killer dolls of all!
Pin (Pin)
For a supremely underrated creepy horror movie doll, look no further than Sandor Stern's bizarre 1988 film Pin!
The movie tracks Leon, a secluded boy who conjures an imaginary friend in the form of his father's anatomical medical doll. Leon names the doll Pin after Pinocchio and becomes extremely close with his new wooden pal. However, over time Pin begins to take hold of Leon's fate in violent and aggressive ways the boy did not ask for. Deeply unnerving and highly overlooked!
Fats (Magic)
In Magic, Sir Anthony Hopkins gives one of the best performances of his career as ventriloquist slowly losing his grip on reality.
The A-list pedigree doesn't end there. Written by the great William Goldman and directed by the awesome Richard Attenborough, the film blurs the psychological line in the mind of Corky (Hopkins) and his creepy puppet Fats. The mystery of whether the doll is acting violently on its own behalf or taking cues from Corky is truly gripping.
Chucky (Child's Play)
Come on now, we all knew there's only one top dog when it comes to creepy horror movie dolls. Through eight films and counting so far, let us all bow down to the most horrifying homicidal homunculus of all: Chucky!
The brilliance of Chucky really boils down to the superb voice-work by Brad Dourif and the awesome animatronic work by the entire FX team. Story-wise, Chucky initially came about when a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray, in the attempt to flee police, crashed into a toy store and transferred his soul into the plastic Chucky Good Guy doll. The rest is history, as Chucky continues his 31-year reign of terror!