“I thought we’d be friends to the end,”

January 4, 2023 7:34 AM

Still friends to the end: the evolution and endless appeal of killer doll movies [A.V. Club] “America loves its toys to death, at least if movies are any indication. Since the 1987 introduction of the murderous doll Chucky, killer toys have been a staple of the cineplex. Despite the modest returns of the Child’s Play series, Chucky continued to rampage from the toy box to knife block through six sequels, a 2019 remake, and unleash a score of imitators, including Annabelle, more than a dozen Puppet Master movies, and Brahms: The Boy II. Somehow, watching child-size menaces hack adults to bits feels good in a place like this.”

• A Short History of Creepy Dolls in Movies [Den of Geek]

“Almost as long as there have been movies, there have been films about creepy dolls turning on their owners or creators, and there’s no sign of that trend stopping any time soon with The Conjuring spinoff Annabelle getting its now very own prequel titled (what else?), Annabelle: Creation. But this is merely the most recent film to make parents shudder at the sight of their offspring’s favorite toy. So why are we so scared of dolls? What is it that makes them creepy? Let’s look at creepy dolls throughout film history, and see how we convinced ourselves to become increasingly scared of evil toys…”

• The 10 Best Haunted Dolls in Movies [Paste Magazine]

“In the olden days, toys were simply made creepier, but there’s something about the disarming innocence associated with dolls that can be inverted into terror. They only ever “come to life” in the imagination of a child when unobserved by grown-ups, but this also makes them the perfect inanimate object to turn sinister and violent when nobody’s around to help you. Plus, they’re often the subject of demonic spells to create a cursed vitality in the most unexpected host. With the sinister but campy thrills of M3GAN imminent, which will catapult the haunted doll into the domain of modern tech, it’s high time we assessed the heights of haunted dolls across the cinematic medium.”

posted by Fizz (41 comments total)

I do, in fact, remember being terrified by the trailer for 1978's Magic as a wee child, so yes parents were right in complaining, as mentioned in the Den of Geek article! I think part of the problem there was the movie title, most kids would think "Magic" was a fairytale movie, not one about an evil ventriloquist doll. I had somehow never realized it starred Sir Anthony Hopkins,which now makes me want to watch it.

Relatedly I once got an A for writing and directing a very short play about evil dolls in 6th grade, so I put my trauma to artistic use.
posted by emjaybee at 7:51 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

The Saw dummy made me realize that we’ve reached the point where Evil Ventriloquist Dummy is rooted in our culture to an even greater extent than actual ventriloquism is.
posted by Etrigan at 7:53 AM on January 4, 2023 [15 favorites]

Brahms in The Boy and The Boy II are my personal favorite when it comes to extremely creepy doll-vibes. I'm hoping we might get a The Boy III somewhere down the road. For some reason this series clicked a lot more than others.

I have some nostalgia for Chucky but he's kind of corny and has been through so many different transformations that mostly I'm just impressed as his staying power as a concept/IP/symbol of evil. Still think he's kind of corny, but when it comes down to it, a lot of these horror-dolls fall into that category.

Just a matter of what flavour you want in your horror-doll film.
posted by Fizz at 8:00 AM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

No mention of either Jonathan Coulton’s Creepy Doll or the McElroy’s Haunted Doll Watch collection?
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:04 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

I had no idea that Gabbo was anything more than a washed up children's television usurper on The Simpsons.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:09 AM on January 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

I'm definitely looking forward to M3gan, purely based on the (2nd) trailer. Expressionless killer AI robot doll + creepy-as-fuck dance? Sign me up!
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 8:12 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Emjaybee, you should definitely give Magic a try! I too was one of the kids terrorized by that trailer, but it turned out to be a really good psychological thriller!
posted by mittens at 8:21 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

M3GAN is also written by Akela Cooper, who was the screenwriter of the incredibonkers Malignant. After seeing that movie, I vowed to watch whatever she came up with next.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:21 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

Even before the Talky Tina episode of the Twilight Zone, a few seasons prior had a ventriloquist's episode called "The Dummy".
posted by neuracnu at 8:26 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

The Twilight Zone had one back in 1963, but instead of killing children it only attacked an abusive father.
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 8:26 AM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

but it turned out to be a really good psychological thriller

Spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie:

There's a great scene where the ventriloquist, Corky, played by Anthony Hopkins, is having an argument with his agent, played by Burgess Meredith. The issue is that Corky doesn't want to have to see a doctor of any kind because he's rightly concerned that he'll be diagnosed with something pretty serious related to his debilitating reliance on his dummy. But he has to see a doctor, because he's been offered a television show, and must be insured to take the job.

They argue back and forth about it for a bit, and finally the agent, out of patience, tells Corky that he'll go to bat for skipping the medical appraisal, on one condition.

Corky: Ok, yeah. Anything. What's the condition?

Agent: Make Fats shut up for five minutes.

The script is by William Goldman, of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Marathon Man", and "The Princess Bride". Very much worth watching.
posted by Ipsifendus at 8:41 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

M3GAN looks absolutely terrifyingly bananapants, and I can't wait to see it, and I also can't wait to hear my fave horror gays cover it on their podcast.
posted by Kitteh at 8:43 AM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

DirtyOldTown has been championing the Chucky series over in FanFare, and I am a strong seconder of that emotion: it's far better than it needs to be, gruesome, funny, suspenseful, wildly 2SLGBTQIA+ positive, and at times bizarrely heartwarming.
posted by Shepherd at 8:51 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Malignant was lots of fun, excited to see this.

Horrific puppets makes me think of some passages in Thomas Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" where he likens animated puppets to the metaphysical horror of human existence (it's a heavy read).

We need to know that puppets are puppets. Nevertheless, we may still be alarmed by them. Because if we look at a puppet in a certain way, we may sometimes feel it is looking back, not as a human being looks at us but as a puppet does. It may even seem to be on the brink of coming to life. In such moments of mild disorientation, a psychological conflict erupts, a dissonance of perception that sends through our being a convulsion of supernatural horror.

Which also lines up with Noel Carroll's theories of art-horror in "The Philosophy of Horror" that explores the cultural monstrousness of interstitial creatures, i.e. the living dead, animated puppets, were-beasts, etc.
posted by colorblindrg at 8:58 AM on January 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

None of the articles mention the clown doll from Poltergeist. Just one scene, but 10/10 nightmare fuel.
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:02 AM on January 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

The fact that M3GAN is being dumped into theatres in January doesn't inspire confidence.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 9:08 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm trying to figure out whether them not including Chinga from The X-Files was a simple oversight or an artistic comment.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:16 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

Glad the Den of Geek link mentions 'Trilogy of Terror' (1975) because I became aware of this trend way before Chucky.

instead of killing children it only attacked an abusive father.

See also that EC comic, Shoe Button Eyes.
posted by Rash at 9:23 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

The fact that M3GAN is being dumped into theatres in January doesn't inspire confidence.

Without even an Oscar-qualifying run in LA over the Christmas week. Short-sighted fools.
posted by Etrigan at 9:25 AM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'm disappointed that Benny Loves You isn't featured on any of those lists. It's a hoot.
posted by Boxenmacher at 9:44 AM on January 4, 2023

Even before the Talky Tina episode of the Twilight Zone, a few seasons prior had a ventriloquist's episode called "The Dummy".

Even before The Twilight Zone, the excellent 1945 movie Dead of Night had a chilling ventriloquist dummy story.

(Note: If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend not reading anything about it, including my link, before you watch the film.)
posted by fairmettle at 9:45 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

I enjoy a creepy doll movie.. But I will admit as someone who spent her childhood with a collection and love of dolls (especially the ones with fancy dresses), I've always been a little, I dunno, weirded out how automatically dolls--and Chucky aside, especially dolls coded explictly female--are coded as creepy, while male-coded action figures or even, like, toy guns are not. I get that some of this is an uncanny valley thing, and I tend to be flattered when adult friends, upon seeing the remnants of my (honestly totally anodyne for the 70s/80s) childhood doll collection, are convinced I spent my girlhood in the company of evil demons and murderers instead of wholesome things like tiny men with guns. And I get that this ship has sailed, but I dunno . . .
posted by thivaia at 9:58 AM on January 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

wholesome things like tiny men with guns

I've been sitting here this whole thread racking my brain for a certain show I watched that dealt with this...I'm almost positive it was one of those 80s horror/science fiction anthology shows, in which a guy is killed by little army men?
posted by mittens at 10:10 AM on January 4, 2023

”Battleground” was an episode of a TNT anthology of Stephen King stories.
posted by Etrigan at 10:16 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

The Doll Scene from Terror of the Autons

It was pretty terrifying when I was six. Not so much now I'm fifty-eight.

Certainly not as off-putting as the doll-headed seamstresses in Street of Crocodiles, which I realise is way outside the ambit of the thread, but darn it Street of Crocodiles is amazing, so.
posted by Grangousier at 10:16 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Glad the Den of Geek link mentions 'Trilogy of Terror' (1975) because I became aware of this trend way before Chucky.

This movie — never called by its actual name but just “that movie where Karen Black is attacked by a doll” — was in the late seventies the playground equivalent of an alien abductions: some disbelieved it ever happened, some were skeptical but wanted to hear more about it, and one or two claimed to have witnessed it.

Me, I didn’t see it until maybe ten or fifteen years ago. It was less compelling in its execution than the version that had played out under the the proscenium arch in my mind. Of course, for almost all of the run time, the only characters on screen are portrayed by an emotionless piece of wood and also that little creepy doll.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:19 AM on January 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

I just watched Seed of Chucky with a friend for one of our irregular Queer Horror Movie Nights. To prepare, I binge-watched 2, 3 and Bride (I'd seen the first one a long time ago). And you know what? I'm now totally invested in the franchise, and I intend to watch Curse, Cult and the TV series too. Here's how it works:

Child's Play (1988): A whodunit for the first two acts. Young Andy says his doll is alive and trying to hurt him, but could Andy himself be responsible for all the horror? Spoiler: No.
Child's Play 2 (1990): Andy is now in foster care, and Chucky comes after him. There's no mystery, so we can go all in on killer doll mayhem with improved effects and a bigger budget, to the movie's immense benefit. Highly recommended.
Child's Play 3 (1991): The nadir of the franchise. Andy (now played by a different actor) has been shipped off to military school, and once again Chucky follows. The formula is getting tired. Worth watching for a few fun scenes and an entertaining role by Andrew "Garak" Robinson, but mostly skippable.
Bride of Chucky (1998): Now we're in the post-Scream era, so audiences want their horror self-aware with a tinge of grim humor, and Chucky delivers. Abandoning Andy altogether, Chucky is reanimated by his former girlfriend Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly). When she teases him about his dollhood, he kills her and transfers her spirit into a doll as well. Bride breathes new life into the series, and Chucky and Tiffany make a great duo.
Seed of Chucky (2004): Bride leaned into knowing humor, but Seed goes full-on meta black comedy. Chucky and Tilly meet their child, who—thanks to doll anatomy—can't decide whether they're a boy named Glen or a girl named Glenda. It's played for laughs, but also with a lot of heart, as openly gay creator Don Mancini poured his own youthful struggles with gender and sexuality into the character. The three go to Hollywood in search of new human bodies, with Tiffany targeting none other than her favorite actress, Jennifer Tilly. It's a hilarious romp, with celebrities getting knocked off left and right.

One of my favorite lines from the series comes from 2. In the climax, Chucky realizes the ritual has been delayed too long, and he remains stuck as a doll. He cries, "It's too late! I've spend too much time in this body! I'm fuckin' trapped in here!" Let me tell you: for a late-blooming trans person, this line hits hard.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:38 AM on January 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

I'm almost positive it was one of those 80s horror/science fiction anthology shows, in which a guy is killed by little army men?

mittens, yr thinking of Darkroom - the Seige of 31 August, linked in etrigan's link to the Battleground story... i love that episode
posted by kokaku at 12:41 PM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

”Battleground” was an episode of a TNT anthology of Stephen King stories.

Night Shift, which this story appears in, is what got me hooked on Stephen King as a kid. To this day if I see army figurines I automatically think of this story.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:10 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Creepy dolls bring Kleist to mind, his weird essay on marionettes:

...puppets have the advantage that they are antigrav.
They know nothing of the inertia of matter, that most contrary of all physical properties
as far as dance is concerned: because the force that raises them into the air is greater
than that which keeps them chained to the ground. What would our good G...give, were
she sixty pounds lighter, or when such a weight would come to her aid during her
entrechats and pirouettes! Puppets, like elves, need the floor only in order to skim it, so
as to give new vigour to their limbs by its momentary resistance; we need the floor to
rest on and recover from the strain of the dance; an instant that itself is clearly not dance
and with which there is nothing more to do than to have it, as far as possible, disappear.
posted by doctornemo at 1:14 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Or this bit:

I said that no matter how cleverly he dealt with the paradoxes of our topic, he surely
would not have me believe that there was more grace to be found in a mechanical
manikin than in the form of the human body.
He countered that it was simply impossible for human beings even to attain the same
level of grace as a manikin. Only a god could match matter in this area
posted by doctornemo at 1:15 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

And I get that this ship has sailed,

I'm not sure how you mean that, but you raise an interesting question. When I look back at the boy-centric action figure dolls in my household, a Peter Parker with a removable Spider-Man suit comes to mind (a big favorite) then there was a GI Joe with that fuzzy beard, these were both poseable dolls that stood about 10" or so. Then there were the first issue of Star Wars figures and similar. I compare that to what was marketed at my sisters, and they had Barbies but also their dolls tended to be more child-like with an attempt to e.g. reproduce "life-like" eyes and hair.

Sorry to derail but the question of gendered toys is one thing, and the history of how creepy dolls are portrayed in film may be related but it's another line of questioning. Glad you brought it up. A lot of the creepy film dolls that come to (my) mind are male-coded (e.g. ventriloquist dummies, Chuckie) but I take your point.
posted by elkevelvet at 1:18 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Creepy dolls don't scare me, and I always say that I'm not into horror featuring them. And yet! I will watch any and all Don Mancini-involved Child's Play/Chucky content (the TV series alone is a marvel), and I'm still mad that covid made me miss my chance to see Stacie Ponder (of Gaylords of Darkness [bonus Brahms content!] and Final Girl fame) postulate on what makes Annabelle a feminist icon in person.
posted by quatsch at 2:37 PM on January 4, 2023

Our middlest is going for more horror films these days, thanks for the good word on the Chuckie franchise. I enjoyed reading loads of Stephen King back when I was his age, but IMO then, the books were so much better/the films didn’t match what I envisioned, so I didn’t pick up the movie genre.

On the flip side, the discussion casts the Toy Story series as an almost gateway franchise, first with Syd, then with the bear & baby duo when Andy goes to college.

Totally agree on the clown doll in Poltergeist.
posted by childofTethys at 3:09 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

One thing that struck me: the original 1960's British TV series The Avengers (Steed & Peel) had an episode with an execution chamber where the victim was immobilized up to the neck on a platform with a bunch of small contact-explosive walking wind-up dolls which chirped "mommy"...
posted by ovvl at 4:08 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

None of the articles mention the clown doll from Poltergeist. Just one scene, but 10/10 nightmare fuel.

Gah. THAT thing. Nightmare fuel reignited!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:09 PM on January 4, 2023

Genuinely looking forward to M3GAN. I saw the trailer, and literally said out loud "Oh, it's Uncanny Valley: The Movie". Looks like they nailed it.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:49 PM on January 4, 2023

emjaybee: Yeah, the trailer for Magic traumatized me too, but to the point I have an utter
hatred for killer dolls. Something about the uncanny valley.
posted by Chocomog at 5:58 AM on January 5, 2023

an utter hatred for killer dolls

Therapists usually say the best treatment for this is exposure therapy. Are there any killer dolls in your area that you could begin to spend time around?
posted by mittens at 6:20 AM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

As a middle school girl in the early 90s, my friends and I loved the early Chucky movies. One of my friends had a camcorder and we made our own horror movie called Kid's Play during a sleepover. (Along with other films like Toilet of Blood and Sleepover Massacre) it was so much fun. Lots of ketchup special effects. I'm both saddened and relieved that the tapes are long gone.
posted by emd3737 at 2:13 PM on January 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

Mittens: Here's the irony, I am a therapist.
posted by Chocomog at 9:40 AM on January 6, 2023 [2 favorites]