With the recent release of the M3GAN 2.0 trailer, now is the perfect time to take a deep dive into the world of killer doll movies. For such a specific subgenre, you’d be surprised just how many horror movies feature bloodthirsty toys. Dolls are the perfect vehicle for scares as they tap into a primal childhood fear of playthings coming to life. As any kid can tell you, even the most innocent stuffed animal becomes downright terrifying in the dark. Most horror movie fans can tell you, however, that the bulk of killer doll films aren’t worth a watch. Some — we’re looking at you, Puppet Master — start out bad and spawn even worse sequels.
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This list, however, represents the cream of the crop. We’ll level with you: a movie about a two-foot plush monstrosity is never going to be Shakespeare, but if done right, it can be a heck of a good time. These seven killer doll movies are not only entertaining but the perfect films to get you in the right mindset for M3GAN 2.0.
Child’s Play (2019)
When horror fans heard that Child’s Play was getting a reboot, they were understandably upset. Not only was the original franchise still going in 2019, but thanks to a pair of direct-to-video films and an upcoming television series, Chucky was more popular than ever. Somehow, though, against all odds, the remake ended up being good. By updating the story to focus on our modern fear of evil AI, Child’s Play managed to be fun while also satirizing the increasing popularity of smart toys.
It also helped that the filmmakers cast Mark Hamill, possibly the only person other than Brad Dourif who could voice Chucky and not start a fan revolt. Hamill’s Chucky isn’t a riff on Dourif’s, but it’s its own thing entirely. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Luke Skywalker say “This is for Tupac!” then Child’s Play is the movie for you.
Dolls
What’s better than one killer doll? A mansion full of killer dolls. Dolls is the perfect mix of ’80s cheese and terrifying visuals. Boasting a screenplay by the writer of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and directed by Stuart Gordon of Re-Animator fame, Dolls is a better film than it has any right to be.
The movie begins like any generic horror story, with a group of tourists stranded near the mansion of a kindly elderly couple seeking shelter from a storm. From there, Dolls turns into a twisted fable in which a group of living dolls judge the character of the tourists, rewarding or punishing them accordingly. Spoilers: the punishments are usually gratuitously violent.
Trilogy of Terror
Trilogy of Terror is a made-for-TV horror anthology from 1976. Overall, it’s pretty good. Not great, but not terrible. Except for the last segment, that is. Like many anthologies, Trilogy of Terror saves its best for last, and its best is a masterclass in how to make a killer doll the stuff of nightmares. The movie’s third and final story, “Amelia,” stars what is possibly the most frightening doll ever captured on film.
The Zuni Fetish Doll is a wooden doll with razor-sharp teeth, a tiny knife, and the energy of the Tasmanian Devil. From the moment the foot-high horror begins its assault on poor Karen Black, it never stops. For 16 harrowing minutes, Trilogy of Terror punishes viewers with a hyper-caffeinated stabbing machine no doubt responsible for countless therapy sessions in the decades since the movie’s release.
Annabelle
Of all the “cinematic universes” that sprung up following the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps the most unlikely was the one based around The Conjuring. And yet, Annabelle, the first official spinoff in the series, was so popular that it led to not only other Conjuring spinoffs like The Nun, but also two followups of its own.
While Annabelle herself is not so much a killer doll as she is a supernatural totem, she still manages to be creepy as all get out. So much so that the movie’s most unbelievable aspect is that anyone would allow a doll that looks like Annabelle within a hundred feet of their home, let alone put it in their child’s room.
Poltergeist
There are creepy dolls, and there are creepy clowns, but only Poltergeist offers both in one childhood-ruining package. The Poltergeist clown gets only a fraction of the screen time afforded to the other killer dolls on this list, but it’s more than enough to scare the pants off of most people. You’d be surprised just how much terror can be packed into little more than a minute of screen time.
The fact that the 2015 Poltergeist reboot used an evil clown in its marketing based on one scene from the original film is a testament to just how terrifying the original doll was.
Bride of Chucky
Chucky is the most iconic killer doll in horror movie history, so it was hard to pick just one of his films to put on the list. After some careful thought, however, we made the decision to go with Bride of Chucky for a few reasons. First and foremost, it established the version of Chucky that everyone knows and loves. Chucky was always funny, but Bride is the first film in the original Child’s Play series to be a flat-out horror-comedy. This overtly comedic tone would continue on through the following three Chucky movies and, more recently, the television series.
Bride of Chucky also changed the tone of the series from a fairly straightforward horror franchise to one willing to take big swings, like putting Chucky in the White House. The movie also introduces Chucky’s on-again-off-again love interest, Tiffany, a female doll played to campy perfection by actress Jennifer Tilly. If you like your killer dolls with a Frankenstein aesthetic and smothered in meta-humor, then Bride of Chucky will be right up your alley.
M3GAN
M3GAN has the distinction of being the only killer doll on this list to inspire her own TikTok dance. Part horror, part black comedy, M3GAN does much of what the Child’s Play reboot set out to do but better. M3GAN is a commentary on the dangers of society’s overreliance on electronics wrapped in a simple story about a girl and her doll — and all the people the doll kills.
On paper, a PG-13 killer doll movie featuring a viral dance sensation as the antagonist sounds like box office poison, but against all odds, M3GAN ended up being a hit with critics and audiences alike. M3GAN is so popular with fans that the makers of M3GAN 2.0 had no choice but to pull a Terminator 2 and make her the hero this time around.
You can check out M3GAN 2.0 when it hits theaters on June 25th.
