Summary
Get a child, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. Well, the couples and families in some of the most horrific horror films of this century and the last all have children, and look what happened to them. As it turns, out, some of the most notorious and sneakiest killers or villainsin horrorcinema are children—evil children, to be exact which may or may not be too far off from toddlers depending on who gets asked.
In any case,evil children inhorror moviesare a recurring trope—one that never fails to inspire fear. Whether it came from the twisted sentiments of filmmakers' views about children—theirs or otherwise, or merely a product of a wild imagination, evil children tend to be more sinister than the usual cinema monster. These films ought to prove that point.
Updated by Mara Cowley on August 07, 2025:Horror movies are filled with tropes designed to scare the life out of their viewers. Possessed dolls, killer clowns, the spirits of old women, and even twisted children are popular choices for movie producers looking for the perfect ingredients for their horror-fest. As it stands, there are plenty ofevil kids movies, preying on a common fear that one’s bundle of joy can grow up to be a force of evil, falling victim to demonic machinations, and the unsuspecting family will be their first victims. This article has already covered a great number of films with horror children serving as the main antagonist, but there are many more worthy of exploration. As such, thisevil children movies listhas been updated to include a few more.
29There’s Something Wrong With the Children
A Babysitting Nightmare
Two couples that are close friends have found their lives have diverged down different paths. Margaret and Ben enjoy a carefree childless life, while Ellie and Thomas have devoted their lives to raising their two children, Lucy and Spencer. The four agree to go on a weekend away together with the two children. After tensions arise between the latter couple, Margaret and Ben agree to watch the children so that mum and dad can enjoy a romantic date together.
Their brief tenure as babysitters goes horribly awry when both children plummet to their death, only to reappear at the cabin without so much as a bruise. But they don’t come back completely unchanged, as the children grow some pretty violent tendencies that could have deadly consequences for both couples.
28Silent Hill
Alessa’s Revenge is a Gruesome Sight to Behold
Based on the first game in Konami’s horror game series of the same name,Silent Hillstays relatively true to the original plot as mother Rose awakens from a car crash to see her daughter Sharon has run off into the town of Silent Hill. While searching for her alongside police officer Cybil Bennet, they encounter the rusted nightmarish otherworld, terrifying monsters, anda cult that will burn anythingthey view as heretical in their overzealous minds.
Rose learned the gruesome history of the town and its burning of Alessa. The dark half of Alessa manifests to tell Rose this story and is just about as eerie as kids come in movies. In the movie’s climax, Alessa ascends into the church surrounded by tendrils of barbed wire she uses to exact her revenge on the cultists who burned her, and it is just about as gory and gruesome as one would expect. There are arguments to be made about whom the true monster is, but there is no denying that Alessa may have taken things a bit too far.
27The Unborn
A Family Secret Plagues Casey
After a babysitting job from hell, Casey is visited by all sorts of strange incidents that eventually point to a horrifying fear that she may be haunted by the spirit of her dead twin who was strangled in the womb by her umbilical cord. Visting her grandmother, she learns that something similar has happened in her family before, and now that long-buried family secret has come to plague her.
Teaming up with an Episcopal Priest, the pair manage to banish the spirit who had far from good intentions for his twin, but the horror may be far from over for Casey, as she learns at the movies end thatshe is pregnantwith twins, which may doom the cycle of her family to continue now with the new generation.
26The Good Son
An Unassuming Boy Grows Violent Tendencies
With the writing skills of a published author behind it and theacting chops of Macaulay Culkinat the forefront,The Good Sonwas destined for success at its inception. Young boy Mark is sent to stay with his extended family as his father departs on a business trip, and grows close to his cousin Henry. At first, he seems like a normal, mild-mannered by, but the longer Mark spends in his company, the stranger his behavior grows.
Fascination with death and increasingly disturbing antics hint at Henry’s unstable mind, such as a dummy he throws off bridges, and proclaiming he wishes to kill his sibling Connie. It is uncomfortable, and the sense of unease only ratchets up asThe Good Soncontinually raises the stakes, right up until the climatic finale.
25The Grudge
Creepy Ghosts Hide a Disturbing Past
Based on a Japanese movie series known asJu-On,The Grudgeis known as one of the most prolific ghost movies of the early 2000s, known to scare hundreds witless. Though the ghost of the mother Kayako is known best from the movie series with her signature crawl and croaking sound, her son Toshio is just as capable of bringing scares.
This little pale boy is more silent than his mother, often sitting and staring at people without them even noticing, inducing great paranoia in viewers that forces them to glance at the dark corners of every room they are in. The circumstances around their death are tragic, but this just makes the story of these ghosts all the more disturbing, and does nothing to lessen the terror their ghastly visages bring.
24The Exorcist: Believer
Twice the Trouble, Twice the Terror
50 years ago, the originalThe Exorcistterrorized movie-goers, people in the audience reportedly fainting or vomiting during showings.The Exorcist: Believerwas never reported to have such a shocking effect on viewers, but it did deliver scares, with two possessed and very scary young girls at the forefront.
Friends Catherine and Angela arrange to perform a seance in order to contact Angela’s deceased mother, but instead, the two girls are found in a barn three days later, displaying alarming and disturbing behavior. As it turns out, the two girls have been possessed by a great evil, and terrorize the families they return to in absolutely horrifying fashion, their appearance twisted by the demonic presence in their bodies, and even going as far as killing the priest who tries to help them.
23Village Of The Damned
Powerful Children with no Care for Human Life
Though mostly known for the every-popular slasher classicHalloween, John Carpenter continued his career as a successful horror director, bringing horror fansVillage of the Damnedin the mid-90s, a movie that proves direct opposition to the phrase “The kids are alright”.
In a sleepy coastal town, the villagers blackout at 10 am, and wake up again at 4 pm, and following this mysterious blackout, four women fall pregnant but do not give birth to normal children. These children display impressive psychic powers and very little compassion for human life. When the townsfolk decide it’s time to cleanse Midwich of their presence, they are in for a nasty surprise when the children fight back.
22Goodnight Mommy
A Shocking Twist Reveals the True Evil
With a Shyamalan-like twist near the end of the film,Goodnight Mommymakes its audience unnerved with every minute and every frame they see in the film. It followsthe storyof twins, Elias and Lukas, whose mother suddenly became distant after getting facial surgery.
Soon enough, the twin boys start testing the limits of their mother’s patience and affection all the while conducting their own investigation into whether she’s still their mother or not. What makes it work is how the movie keeps viewers guessing or even questioning their sanity or the twins,' or even the mother’s.
21Children Of The Corn
The Children Are Not Alright
One usually expects something unfavorable to happen while stopping over in a countryside whose landscape is populated with corn plants. However, murderous children are far from the list of suspects in such a scenario.Children of the Cornexplores that take.
Again, it involves an unfortunate couple who got trapped in a town that can only be summed up as a more violent version of Neverland, where the children’s inhabitants believe that anyone above the age of 18 is too old to live. That’s bad news for the two adults.
20The Prodigy
Another Possession Story with Horrific Consequences
The life of a prodigy must be a tough one, with the weight of their parents' expectations burdening their shoulders and lacking any peers who share their age and intelligence. Could they really be blamed if they snapped under all that pressure?
But that is not the reason for young Miles' violent behavior. A prodigy since his birth, he could speak fluently even before he reached toddler age, displaying impressive intelligence and wisdom. It is soon revealed that the gifted child is possessed by the ghost of a dangerous serial killer, and he is using the young boy’s body to continue his crimes even after death.
