Summary
- Evil dolls are a popular and creepy trend in horror cinema, with their small stature making them difficult to find and stop.
- There are many unsettling horror movie dolls to choose from, each showcasing terrifying antics and abilities.
- From possessed androids to possessed dolls and terrifying baby doll mockeries, these dolls are nightmare-inducing entities.
With their glassy eyes, carved smiles, and painted-on hair, dolls give people plenty of reasons to be nervous even before they come alive and start hunting their human prey. The evil doll trend has been popular in horror for decades, so fans looking for a sinister doll to cower from have many choices.
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Evil children are one of the scariest tropes in horror movies. These eerie movies in particular will have viewers both shivering and cringing.
Possessed, haunted, or otherwise brought to some sick parody of life, evil dolls are some of the creepiest entities in horror cinema. Their small stature lets them skitter around in closets, cupboards, and beneath beds, making them just as difficult to find as they are to stop.
Updated on February 18, 2025, by Mara Cowley: Dolls are one of the most commonly used items in horror movies to elicit fear and dread in audiences, as they are widely regarded as eerie and unsettling. What the horror movie dolls lack in stature, they more than make up for with their screen presence, as they delight audiences with their terrifying antics. They tend to showcase surprising abilities to wreak havoc and danger upon their unsuspecting victims, playing on the fear of inanimate objects coming to life. There is no small number of dolls in horror movies, but some are a great deal scarier than others.
26 Charlotte (Charlotte)
One Creepy Doll Forces A Babysitter To Witness Terror
- Release Date: July 27th, 2017
- Runtime: 1hr 23m
- Director: Colin Campbell, John Edward Lee
Normally, most evil dolls arm themselves with weapons, taking demented delight in inflicting physical pain, injury, or even death upon their unsuspecting victims, who definitely underestimated their pint-sized foe. While Charlotte still seems very sinister in appearance, she takes a slightly different approach to tormenting the poor babysitter who has the misfortune of being under the same roof as the doll.
She instead ties up her victim and forces her to watch terrifying videos, which are the various shorts that make up this horror anthology. It is a clever and unique wraparound, doing nothing to deter from the horror of Charlotte's living doll nature.
25 Glenda (Seed Of Chucky)
The Evil Alter Ego Delights In Murder
- Release Date: May 13th, 2005
- Runtime: 1hr 26m
- Director: Don Mancini
The saying usually goes that after marriage comes children, and one might not think that would be possible for two animate dolls. However, life finds a way, and Tiffany did indeed give birth to another killer in the form of her and Chucky's genderfluid doll, who tracks down his parents on the movie set of Jennifer Tilly's latest flick.
As Glen, he does not relish the idea of killing like his father seems to and wants to live a pacifist life. But then, enter Glenda, who delights in killing and maiming others. She might even be more murderous than her parents, which is an impressive feat.
24 Possum
One Of The Most Terrifying Puppets To Grace TV Screens
- Release Date: October 26th, 2018
- Runtime: 1hr 25m
- Director: Matthew Holness
Disgraced puppeteer Philip Connell returns to his home in Norfolk with his unsettling Uncle Maurice, along with his terrifying puppet Possum. Throughout the course of the film, he tries to get rid of this unusual puppet, simply by throwing it away or even trying to burn it, yet he can't seem to escape it, like a curse that is stuck with him for life. Nightmarish sequences seem to show that the puppet has self-awareness as it chases him through abandoned buildings or even crawls across the bed towards him.
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A truly unsettling creation that has a pale human head atop a body of spider-like limbs, it is little wonder Philip's career as a puppeteer failed, as who would ever want this creature touted around at their party?
23 Blood Dolls (Blood Dolls)
A Trio Of Killer Dolls
- Release Date: August 30th, 1999
- Runtime: 1hr 24m
- Director: Charles Band
This straight-to-video movie might have escaped the notice of most horror aficionados, but for those who enjoy a cheesy horror flick starring some scary dolls, Blood Dolls is the movie for them.
Virgil Travis is an unfortunate soul suffering from physical deformities from the abuse he faced as a child, but now he is inflicting the misery and suffering he endured on others through his eponymous blood dolls, Pimp, Sideshow, and Ms Fortune. Not only do these dolls have creepy aesthetics, but they also have murderous ideations, carrying out Virgil's revenge mission on all those who wronged him. Despite their small size, hardly anyone survives their deadly clutches.
22 Suzie (May)
This Emotional Support Doll Is More Of A Nightmare Than A Comfort
- Release Date: February 7th, 2003
- Runtime: 1hr 33m
- Director: Lucky McKee
May follows a troubled young girl suffering from a lazy eye that sees her alienated from most children her age. Her mother gifts her a doll by the name of Suzie to serve as a friend, and while this is well-intentioned, Suzie is not a doll any normal little girl would want, as she has an uncanny valley appearance that is terrifying and looks like she could come to life at any second and kill everyone in the room.
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Though Suzie is a pivotal prop in the movie, she doesn't show as much living doll shenanigans as most other horror movie dolls, but her appearance and the brief scene at the end, which does reveal she is, in fact, alive, are enough nightmare fuel to make May a scary doll movie to remember.
21 The Mannequins (Asylum)
These Small Mannequins Are Incredibly Unsettling
- Release Date: July 6th, 1972
- Runtime: 1hr 22m
- Director: Roy Ward Baker
Asylum is a 70s horror anthology gem, with its Mannequins of Terror segment serving as an apt name for these horror movie dolls. A doctor by the name of Byron has branched out into a new field of research, one that is sure to inspire both fear and pure revoltion.
He has begun to assemble small dolls with real human organs inside of them, which is said to infuse them with the abilities a human has, and he is confident he can place his own spirit within them. Whether these are the ramblings of a man gone mad is up for debate, but these eerie and disgusting dolls are very real and deserve to be known as the "Mannequins of Horror."
20 M3GAN (M3GAN)
Her Immense Strength Makes Her A Terrifying Threat
- Release Date: January 6th, 2023
- Runtime: 1hr 42m
- Director: Gerald Johnstone
Megan, or M3GAN as she is technically known, upgraded the idea of a doll in a movie with an uncanny valley android, intended to act as a confidant and friend to toy engineer Gemma's niece Cady, who was tragically orphaned at the start of a movie following a car accident.
M3GAN starts out as a parent's dream, taking on the role of a friend, mentor, and parent to young Cady, but as the movie unravels, so does MEGAN's character, as she turns from a dream to a nightmare, killing any perceived threat to Cady and becoming violently possessive over her. With the uncanny valley look to her face and violent tendencies, M3GAN shows a nightmarish glimpse into what could be humanity's future.
19 Tiffany Valentine (Child's Play Franchise)
Tiffany Kills People In Creative And Horrifying Ways
- Release Date: October 16th, 1998
- Runtime: 1hr 29m
- Director: Ronny Yu
Introduced in the third Child's Play movie, Bride of Chucky, Tiffany immediately cemented herself as a fan favorite. Acting as the Bonnie to Chucky's Clyde, she hatches a devious plan to get them two new bodies and isn't afraid to dish out creative murder to anyone who stands in their way.
Smart and creative but holding onto hopes of true romance and love, Tiffany is hamstrung by these latter ideals, making her easy to manipulate, yet she remains a dangerous dolly no one should cross.
18 Heidi (Heidi)
Heidi's Blank Stare Is Unnerving To Say The Least
- Release Date: May 22nd, 2017
- Runtime: 1hr 37m
- Director: Daniel Ray
This movie combines terrifying dolls and found footage, delivering an unsettling narrative that follows two teenage boys who discover the titular doll, Heidi. Upon discovering her, strange events begin occurring that lead them to believe Heidi is more than just a creepy, abandoned toy.
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Its unsettling appearance with its roughed-up hair and empty eye sockets make it surprisingly scary for what could have been an ordinary children's toy, and the events occurring that leave no doubt as to who the culprit is make Heidi a truly terrifying entity.
17 Dolly Dearest (Dolly Dearest)
Dolly Dearest Has A Horrific Uncanny Valley Appearance
- Release Date: October 18th, 1991
- Runtime: 1hr 34m
- Director: Maria Lease
Many think of Annabelle when the phrase 'possessed doll' is mentioned, but another movie did this first: Dolly Dearest. The title of this movie shares a name with the doll factory that gave birth to this malevolent doll, which was situated directly adjacent to an underground Mayan tomb, from which an evil spirit was unleashed.
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This evil spirit known as Sanzia takes refuge inside a porcelain doll, which naturally finds its way to the hands of a young child. From then on, strange occurrences haunt the Wade family residence, and things begin to ramp up dangerously. This doll is dearest only in name and certainly not in nature.