DVD: Let Me In and Other Favorite Blood-Curdling Kids
Horror movies have gotten maximum mileage out of spooky children over the years. Seeing a tot with a grim visage and no fire in his or her eyes is a quick way to give audiences the willies, and Let Me In (new this week from Anchor Bay Entertainment) effectively uses young Chloe Moretz -- giving a grim, chilling performance -- as a centuries-old vampire in the body of what appears to be a pre-adolescent girl. (Moretz is following in the capable footsteps of Lina Leandersson from Let Me In's superior predecessor, Let the Right One In.) Who are some other movie kids you wouldn't want to babysit without garlic, holy water, and an AK-47? Glad you asked!
· Those creepy Aryan Village of the Damned kids, and their descendants, the Children of the Corn.
· Harvey Stephens as Damien Thorn in the original The Omen. Or the equally homicidal (if less Satanic) Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son or Jacob Kogan in Joshua. Not to mention Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan, although...well, I'll shut up, in case you don't know the twist on this one.
· Daveigh Chase as the creepy girl in the well in The Ring -- or Daveigh Chase as the creepy girl from the compound on Big Love, for that matter -- as well as her own predecessor, Rie Ino'o from the original Japanese Ringu.
· These days, she comes off more ridiculous than menacing, but Patty McCormack's treacherous Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed is a murderous moppet for the ages.
· I've never actually seen the controversial Island of the Damned (1976) -- aka Who Can Kill a Child? -- but it's about British tourists on holiday who find themselves on an island where the kids have gone berserk and are murdering all the adults. Is it as bonkers as its reputation?
· She plays it for laughs, but there's definitely a gravitas to Christina Ricci's pallid and pernicious Wednesday Addams in the two Addams Family movies.
You've no doubt got favorites of your own -- share them in the comments.
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Comments
jonathan lipnicki in jerry maguire.
lol
I kind of have to pick Linda Blair as the child I would least like to babysit. Yup, no thanks.
Definitely get "Who Can Kill a Child?" from Netflix -- it's rough, but pointedly so. Off the top of my head I'd also add "Joshua," with Sam Rockwell, which nobody saw for some reason.
Thanks for the tip, Jeff. But Joshua is already mentioned above.
And Case 39, in which she plays another demon child. I'm not realy a fan of cute, campy creepy kids portrayals.
I'd add to the list a recent movie called The Children, about mysteriously homicidal children at a family gathering in england, and a korean horror film with a tiny little girl who looked about 4 but was so horrific when she got possessed by a ghost I was worried for her sanity. Also maybe interview with the vampire, though its set in the past. Both have great performances from children.
The kid from the well in The Ring...
Also covered above. Do people stampede straight for the comments without reading the actual article? (Actually, don't answer that; I don't want to know.)