Killer toy
Killer toys are fictional characters based on toys, dolls or puppets that come alive and commit violent or scary acts. Reasons for these actions have included possession by demons, devils, monsters, ghosts, supernatural creatures, dark magic, and malevolent or malfunctioning technology.
Concept
Toys coming to life is a common and historical concept in children's literature, and the idea has been adapted into numerous horror films and other horror fiction. The 1978 film Magic represents a key inspiration for subsequent films, while the subgenre's best-known films are the Child's Play films.Several works have used ventriloquist's dummies as antagonists, with the dummies either being outlets for their operator's psychosis, or acting malevolently on their own.
List of films
The films that feature killer toys are listed as follows:Film | Year | Rating | Reference |
The Devil-Doll | 1936 | 81% | |
Dead of Night | 1945 | 96% | |
Attack of the Puppet People | 1958 | No score yet... | |
The Curse of the Doll People | 1961 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Devil Doll | 1964 | 20% | |
House of Evil | 1968 | No critic reviews yet... | |
A Reflection of Fear | 1972 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Asylum | 1972 | 60% | |
From Beyond the Grave | 1974 | No score yet... | |
Craze | 1974 | No score yet... | |
Patayin Mo Sa Sindak Si Barbara | 1974 | ||
Trilogy of Terror | 1975 | 90% | |
Cauchemares | 1977 | No critic reviews yet... | |
The Wiz | 1978 | 42% | |
Magic | 1978 | 83% | |
Tourist Trap | 1979 | No score yet... | |
The Pit | 1981 | No score yet... | |
Poltergeist | 1982 | 88% | |
Xtro | 1982 | 20% | |
Curtains | 1983 | 60% | |
Black Devil Doll From Hell | 1984 | No critic reviews yet... | |
The Devil's Gift | 1984 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Joey | 1985 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Dolls | 1987 | 64% | |
GhostHouse | 1988 | No score yet... | |
Child's Play | 1988 | 69% | |
Pin | 1988 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Puppet Master | 1989 | 33% | |
Child's Play 2 | 1990 | 40% | |
Puppet Master II | 1991 | 33% | |
Child's Play 3 | 1991 | 23% | |
' | 1991 | No score yet... | |
Dolly Dearest | 1991 | No score yet... | |
' | 1991 | No score yet... | |
Dollman | 1991 | No score yet... | |
Demonic Toys | 1992 | No score yet... | |
Curse, Death & Spirit | 1992 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Dollman vs. Demonic Toys | 1993 | No score yet... | |
Puppet Master 4 | 1993 | 0% | - |
' | 1994 | No score yet... | |
The Fear | 1995 | No score yet... | |
Tales from the Hood | 1995 | 38% | |
Patayin sa Sindak Si Barbara | 1995 | ||
Doll from Hell | 1996 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Amityville Dollhouse | 1996 | No score yet... | |
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders | 1996 | No score yet... | |
Pinocchio's Revenge | 1996 | No score yet... | |
Trilogy of Terror II | 1996 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Quicksilver Highway | 1997 | No score yet... | |
Curse of the Puppet Master | 1998 | No score yet... | |
Small Soldiers | 1998 | 48% | |
Bride of Chucky | 1998 | 44% | |
The Fear: Resurrection | 1999 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Blood Dolls | 1999 | No score yet... | |
Totem | 1999 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Retro Puppet Master | 1999 | No score yet... | |
Ragdoll | 1999 | No critic reviews yet... | |
The Dummy | 2000 | No critic reviews yet... | |
May | 2002 | 69% | |
Demon Island | 2002 | No score yet... | |
Terror Toons | 2002 | No score yet... | |
Love Object | 2003 | 42% | |
' | 2003 | No score yet... | |
Doll Master | 2004 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Seed of Chucky | 2004 | 32% | |
Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys | 2004 | No score yet... | |
Marronnier | 2004 | No score yet... | |
When Puppets and Dolls Attack! | 2004 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Doll Graveyard | 2005 | No score yet... | |
Tiki | 2006 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Dead Silence | 2007 | 21% | |
' | 2007 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Black Devil Doll | 2007 | No score yet... | |
Dangerous Worry Dolls | 2008 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Triloquist | 2008 | No score yet... | |
Puppet Show | 2008 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Skull Heads | 2009 | No score yet... | |
The Hole | 2009 | 81% | |
Demonic Toys 2 | 2010 | No score yet... | |
' | 2010 | No score yet... | |
Shake, Rattle & Roll 12 | 2010 | No critic reviews yet... | |
' | 2012 | No score yet... | |
Ooga Booga | 2013 | No score yet... | |
The Conjuring | 2013 | 86% | |
Curse of Chucky | 2013 | 80% | |
Maria Leonora Teresa | 2014 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Finders Keepers | 2014 | No critic reviews yet... | |
Annabelle | 2014 | 29% | |
Poltergeist | 2015 | 31% | |
Goosebumps | 2015 | 76% | |
Krampus | 2015 | 65% | |
The Boy | 2016 | 29% | |
' | 2017 | 68% | |
The Toymaker | 2017 | ||
Cult of Chucky | 2017 | 83% | |
Tales from the Hood 2 | 2018 | 67% | |
' | 2018 | 48% | |
Child's Play | 2019 | 64% | |
Annabelle Comes Home | 2019 | 65% | |
' | 2020 | 10% |
In television
- Evil dolls are antagonists in episodes of The Twilight Zone, both the 1959–1964 series and the 2002 version:
- * 1962: "The Dummy" with a ventriloquist dummy that attempts to exact revenge when he is replaced
- * 1963: "Living Doll" features Talky Tina, a doll belonging to the stepdaughter of Erich Streator
- * 1964: "Caesar and Me" features a ventriloquist dummy that goads his owner into committing robberies and deserts him when the police come for him
- * 2002: "The Collection" features a young girl's strange collection of dolls which were made from her past babysitters
- The theme of evil toys has also been used in Doctor Who episodes:
- * 1966: "The Celestial Toymaker"
- * 2011: "Night Terrors"
- 1986: Smurfs episode "Gargamel's Dummy," the series' antagonist Gargamel casts an evil spell on a ventriloquist's dummy Jokey Smurf had created for a talent show, hoping to use it to help him destroy the Smurf village and ultimately, the Smurfs. The dummy was a parody of Gargamel, and the real Gargamel, angered upon learning of it, casts the spell to begin exacting his revenge.
- 1992: The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror III", the segment "Clown Without Pity" features a Krusty doll that tries to kill Homer. The segment borrows elements from the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll", the Child's Play films, Gremlins, the 1975 TV film Trilogy of Terror segment "Amelia" about a killer Zuni fetish doll as well as its 1996 cinematic sequel Trilogy of Terror II segment "He Who Kills", which are both in turn adaptations of Richard Matheson's 1969 short story, "Prey". The segment also borrows elements from Cape Fear. In a different episode, "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", a possessed killer doll named "Baby Button Eyes" appears in a horror film, The Re-Deadening. The doll is most likely based on the real-life appearance of "Annabelle", a possessed Raggedy Ann doll.
- 1994: The Mega Man episode "Crime of the Century," Dr. Wily reprograms a bunch of dolls and other toys to perform robberies all over the city. However, it's all just a diversion so Wily can get his hands on something much more valuable: a giant black pearl.
- Rozen Maiden, anime about supernatural doll come to life with Rosa Mysticas.
- Ventriloquist dummies and dolls are also portrayed as evil in the works of R.L. Stine:
- * 1994: The Goosebumps books and TV series had the "Night of the Living Dummy" stories which featured a sentient ventriloquist dummy named Slappy.
- * 2010: ' featured Lilly D. in the episodes "Really You" Pt. 1 and 2 and "The Return of Lilly D".
- * 2014: R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour features another killer toy in the episode "Near Mint Condition", which centers around Mangler, a rare cybernetic teddy bear from an '80s cartoon that was withdrawn from the market for allegedly killing and maiming its owners.
- 2000: In the ' episode "Generation Hex", a rare collectible Billy-Go-Boom-Boom doll that the titular character purchases with extra fundraising money comes alive and takes her forty years into the future to warn her of the consequences of her selfishness.
- 2003: In the What's New, Scooby Doo? episode "Toy Scary Boo," the gang investigates a store with living toys that are taking it over.
- 2006: In episode "Flippy", Jimmy puts a chip in a dummy to help his father's ventriloquism act, only for it to go awry and steal from Hugh's brain to make the dummy sentient while leaving him a mindless zombie. Later, Flippy almost kills Hugh by throwing him off a cliff in order to keep his energy and stay alive.
- 2013: In the Grojband episode "No Strings Attached," Trina Riffin suffers from pupaphobia after she had wicked visions of puppets when she was a child.
- 2015: In the first episode of Ash vs Evil Dead, "El Jefe", the demonic forces attack Ash Williams at the supermarket where he works by possessing a "Little Lori" doll.
List of episodes
Series | Episode | Year | Reference |
The Twilight Zone | "The Dummy" | 1962 | |
The Twilight Zone | "Living Doll" | 1963 | |
The Twilight Zone | "Caesar and Me" | 1964 | |
Doctor Who | "The Celestial Toymaker" | 1966 | |
Night Gallery | "The Doll" | 1971 | |
The Smurfs | "Gargamel's Dummy" | 1986 | |
Tales from the Crypt | "Strung Along" | 1992 | |
The Simpsons | "Treehouse of Horror III" | 1992 | |
Mega Man | "Crime of the Century" | 1996 | |
Goosebumps | "Night of the Living Dummy II" | 1996 | |
Goosebumps | "Night of the Living Dummy III: Part 1" | 1997 | |
Goosebumps | "Night of the Living Dummy III: Part 2" | 1997 | |
Goosebumps | "Bride of the Living Dummy" | 1998 | |
The X-Files | "Chinga" | 1998 | |
' | "Generation Hex" | 2000 | |
' | "Battered Doll/Poker Justice" | 2002 | |
What's New, Scooby-Doo? | "Toy Scary Boo" | 2003 | |
The Twilight Zone | "The Collection" | 2003 | |
The Simpsons | "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" | 2004 | |
' | "Flippy" | 2006 | |
' | "Battleground" | 2006 | |
"Really You: Part 1" | 2010 | ||
R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series | "Really You: Part 2" | 2010 | |
Doctor Who | "Night Terrors" | 2011 | |
R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series | "The Return of Lilly D" | 2012 | |
R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series | "Near Mint Condition" | 2014 | |
Ash vs Evil Dead | "El Jefe" | 2015 |