A recognisable horror trope for even the most casual viewer, scary kids have plagued our screens and pages since The Midwich Cuckoos. In the last decade or so, Hollywood horror has really taken the concept and ran, with your average spooky blockbuster almost always throwing a token creepy child into the mix, no matter how relevant the inclusion. Why are scary kids so popular? The phenomenon has endured despite decades of the genre evolving and branching out, and audiences globally still can’t get enough of the little terrors. I tend to lean towards the idea of purity versus villainy; children generally represent innocence and naivety, and the concept of this innate ‘goodness’ being corrupted by corrosive evil, or even being transformed by it, is a journey that most people can watch and empathise with. When done well, scary kids can feature in your nightmares long after you tear your eyes from the TV. To help you navigate the vastly populated world of scary kids in horror, here are five of my favourite films featuring the scariest of underage hellraisers.
- Chris O’Neill – The Hole in the Ground (Lee Cronin, 2019)
When Sarah and her son Chris escape the city for rural Ireland after an unknown trauma involving the boy’s father, their hopes for a fresh new start are dashed after Chris finds a sinkhole in the forest and starts acting…. strangely. A film that is relentless in its jump scares, the viewer finds themselves becoming just as eager as Sarah to find out what has changed her son. The limited cast is what makes the film, keeping the two claustrophobically isolated from any form of reason or hope from the outside world.
2. Joon-Hee – The Mimic (Huh Jung, 2017)
Hoping for a fresh start, Hee-Yeon and Min-Ho move out to the countryside with their daughter Joon-Hee and grandmother for a fresh start after the disappearance of their young son a few years before. Like The Hole in the Ground, and as you can probably predict, they may have been better off staying in the city. Soon, the family is infiltrated by a mysterious girl they find in the local forest, claiming to have the same name as Joon-Hee, with similar characteristics. I try to refrain from spoilers in case you’re inspired to watch, but there are a certain couple of scenes that, although I’ve not yet had a child myself, were particularly heart-wrenching. Yum Jung-ah as Hee-Yeon is a fantastic acting addition, to the point where I had to check whether the actor herself had experienced any child loss, as she acted with such solemn conviction.
3. Mitsuko Kawai – Dark Water (Hideo Nakata, 2002)
Deep into a legal battle with her ex-husband over their divorce settlement, Yoshimi and her daughter Ikuko rent a dilapidated flat in a huge complex. Strange things begin to occur around the building; tap water has hair in it, flooding is a regular occurrence, and Yoshimi keeps spotting a small long-haired girl darting around the place. Hailed as a peak film during a trending horror era fondly referred to as the ‘soggy dead girl’ age, Dark Water makes clever use of a setting full of unlimited potential to bring to life (for want of better phrasing) the ghosts plaguing Yoshimi and Ikuko.
4. Boy – Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan, 2019)
This is where the semi-traditional family model involving kids comes crashing to a halt. After driving to a house viewing in a suspiciously uniform neighbourhood, Gemma and boyfriend Tom are plunged into an Escher-esque nightmare, enhanced when they come across an infant in a cardboard box, along with nursing supplies. Bending your mind and unsettling your stomach, Vivarium showcases stellar acting in an increasingly bizarre premise. The Boy in this film is the most harrowing of all the children in this article.
5. Baby – Prevenge (Alice Lowe, 2016)
Ah, the brutal side-effects of pregnancy. Vomiting, weight gain and …murder? Ruth’s baby bump starts talking to her after her partner is killed in a climbing accident earlier that year. The foetus’s instructions? To kill every person complicit in her partner’s death upon discovering that they cut the rope to which he was tethered, to save themselves. Equal parts amusing and aesthetically pleasing, Prevenge teaches us that not all scary children need to have technically been born yet.
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