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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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 May 5, 2024, 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 they lack in stature, they more than make up for with their screen presence, as they delight audiences with their terrifying antics. They 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 unsettling dolls in horror movies, but some are a great deal scarier than others.

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.

16 Baby Oopsie Daisy (Demonic Toys)

A Horrifying Mockery Of A Baby Doll

• Release Date: March 12th, 1992
• Runtime: 1hr 26m
• Director: Peter Manoogian

This ensemble evil toy movie features many monstrous toys, such as the Jack-in-the-Box Jack Attack, the Grizzly Teddy Bear plush, and Baby Oopsie Daisy, who is a horrifying mockery of baby doll toys often given to young girls.

Her appearance twists what could normally be a cute toy into something truly demonic, and what's more, Oopsie Daisy wields a number of weapons against her helpless human victims, demonstrating a greater ability to kill than her small stature suggests.

15 Lilith (Finders Keepers)

Lilith Not Only Looks Terrifying But Is Aggressively Possessive Of Claire

• Release Date: October 18th, 2014
• Runtime: 1hr 28m
• Director: Alexander Yellen

If a person moves into a new home and finds a creepy doll abandoned by the previous occupants, the only correct response is to throw the doll away immediately. But then, horror fans wouldn't have the creepy movie Finders Keepers to enjoy.

The daughter of recently divorced mother Alyson becomes obsessed with the doll named Lilith, and strange occurrences plague their home. Claire and the doll quickly form a strong bond, and anyone who tries to sever it pays very severe consequences.

14 Slappy (Goosebumps)

Plays On The Fear Of Uncanny Valley Ventriloquist Dummies

• Release Date: October 16th, 2015
• Runtime: 1hr 43m
• Director: Rob Letterman

90s kids who grew up watching the teen scream show Goosebumps will most likely remember the episodes featuring Slappy the most, an evil ventriloquist doll who has full sentience and intelligence. As a stand-out villain, it makes perfect sense he would be given the villain spotlight when Goosebumps made the transition from TV show to movie.

In the movie, Slappy is awoken by a string of words from an unknown language that translates to "You and I are one now." He immediately attempts to make the one who woke him serve him as a slave and will stoop to dastardly levels to achieve this goal.

13 Fats (Magic)

This Doll Is Part Of The Magician's Split Personality, Making Him Extremely Dangerous

• Release Date: November 9th, 1978
• Runtime: 1hr 47m
• Director: Richard Attenborough

Horror fans will always remember Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal the Cannibal, but Magic saw him starring as a very different kind of monster. In this film, he plays a struggling magician who reignites his career when he begins working alongside Fats, a ventriloquist dummy.

In most horror films featuring ventriloquist dummies, the dolls are possessed or otherwise animated. In Magic, Fats is the magician's split personality, the ultimate embodiment of his disintegrating psyche. With a creepy premise and Hopkin's incredible performance behind it,Magic makes Fats a doll that many viewers wish they could forget.

12 Hugo (Dead Of Night)

Hugo Embodies An Unsettling Presence, Especially At The Time Of The Movie's Release

• Release Date: July 16th, 1946
• Runtime: 1hr 43m
• Director: Alberto Cavalcanti

Another ventriloquist dummy, but this one dates from a much earlier project, Hugo appeared in the 1940s British horror anthology Dead of Night. The film includes a number of standout performers, including Mervyn Johns, Sally Ann Howes, and Googie Withers, but it's best remembered for its final story, featuring Michael Redgrave and Hugo.

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Redgrave's character and Hugo share a prison cell, and the horror of the events that take place within is only magnified by the black-and-white film and the scratchiness of the audio. Though there are many fine examples of terrifying dolls in modern horror, in a few brief but chilling moments, Hugo and Dead of Night set the standard for so much that was to come.

11 Brahms (The Boy)

Cared For As Though He Is A Real, Living Being

• Release Date: January 22nd, 2016
• Runtime: 1hr 37m
• Director: William Brent Bell

What's the creepiest way a character can interact with a doll in a horror movie? The answer is taking care of it as if it were a real person, at least according to The Boy. In this movie, an elderly couple who have lost their son at an early age decide to raise a life-size doll in his place, going so far as to hire a nanny (played by The Walking Dead's exceptional Lauren Cohan) to care for him.

Anyone who thinks things improve from there has never seen a horror movie. Though The Boy isn't an extraordinary film, Brahms is an extraordinary doll and more than delivers the requisite creep factor. Many horror movie dolls are creepy because of how real they look; Brahms is one of the few dolls to be creepy because of how he is treated.

10 Pin (Pin)

Despite Being An Anatomical Medical Dummy, Pin Remains Creepy To All Behold Him

• Release Date: May 18th, 1988
• Runtime: 1hr 42m
• Director: Sandor Stern

The doll in the 1988 Canadian film Pin is unique in the creepiest way possible. He isn't a puppet, ventriloquist dummy, porcelain collectible, or any other common variety of horror movie doll. No, Pin is an anatomically correct medical dummy used by the disturbed Dr. Linden to teach children biology.

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Pin is a cult classic, receiving only a fraction of the attention that it deserves, even among horror aficionados. The film features strong pacing, interesting characters, and a quality premise, and it should be a fixture in every horror fan's collection based on the strength of its horrifying medical doll alone. Pin is all the right kinds of wrong.

9 Billy (Dead Silence)

Prone To Fits Of Anger

• Release Date: March 16th, 2007
• Runtime: 1hr 29m
• Director: James Wan

James Wan is no stranger to horror, with films like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring under his belt. Dead Silence may not have received the same attention as those more popular franchises, but it still contains a terrifying doll. Billy is a ventriloquist dummy, which, in the eyes of many, would make him nightmare fuel even if he wasn't talking.

Of course, Dead Silence is a horror movie, so alive he is, and Billy wants to use every available moment of his wakefulness to terrorize those around him. Anyone with doubts need only look to Mary Shaw's performance and Billy's escalating anger when his realness is questioned, only making the setting that much worse.

8 Billy (Saw)

His Arrival Is A Prelude To The Torture To Come

• Release Date: October 29th, 2004
• Runtime: 1hr 43m
• Director: James Wan

Another ventriloquist dummy, this one also called Billy, in another film guided by the directorial hand of James Wan, can be found in Saw. This doll is an actual puppet, a dead, mechanical thing only given as much life as its owner wishes. Unfortunately, Billy's owner is John Kramer, the serial killer better known as Jigsaw.

As the face of Jigsaw's horrible games, Billy is synonymous with torture and impossible choices. His tricycle, suit, and the red spiral on his cheeks have all become images burned into the mind of every Saw fan and even the minds of many who have never seen the film.

7 Doll (Deep Red)

The Cinematography Surrounding The Doll Makes His Every Scene Unsettling

• Release Date: March 7th, 1975
• Runtime: 2hr 6m
• Director: Dario Argento

Legendary horror director Dario Argento always brings something special to his films, and that something often comes from the imagery. Argento's films demonstrate a mastery of the image, the beautiful as well as the unsettling, and so, when the time came for him to craft a doll to feature in his film Deep Red, success was a certainty.

Prominent teeth, a receding hairline, and intelligent eyes are some of the doll's signature features, but everything about it is unnerving. The cueing of the music and the violent shifting of the camera when the doll storms the study adds another layer of anxiety to a moment the doll has already made horrible.

6 Der Klown (Krampus)

This Terrifying Jack-In-The-Box Devours His Victims With His Demonic Mouth

• Release Date: December 4th, 2015
• Runtime: 1hr 37m
• Director: Michael Dougherty

This Christmas horror flick contains a multitude of scary threats that are turning the Engel family's Christmas into a nightmare. Not only do they have to survive Krampus, the legendary figure from folklore, but they must also deal with a menagerie of monsters, such as Der Klown.

At first glance, Der Klown looks like an unusually large and creepy Jack-in-the-Box. That is until he opens his mouth, revealing a four-pronged mouth like Predator's that he can use to devour his victims. This, combined with his startling appearance, makes Der Klown the most terrifying threat in Krampus.

5 Clown (Poltergeist)

The Source Of One Of The Biggest Movie Jumpscares Of All Time

• Release Date: June 4th, 1982
• Runtime: 1hr 54m
• Director: Tobe Hooper

Clowns are scary. Dolls are scary. Clown dolls are almost unfairly upsetting, and Poltergeist has a great one. Tobe Hooper, the same director who brought audiences The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, gave viewers another reason to hide under the blankets with this supernatural horror film.

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4 Blade (Puppet Master)

His Weapon-Hands Make Blade Extremely Dangerous

• Release Date: October 12th, 1989
• Runtime: 1hr 30m
• Studio: David Schmoeller

To have even one memorable doll in a horror film is a blessing enough; it's difficult to craft any inanimate object to that level of frightful glory. Puppet Master is a franchise blessed with numerous horrifying dolls. Andre Toulon's puppets include Pinhead, Jester, Six-Shooter, Torch, Leech Woman, Tunneler, and Doctor Death, but most frightful of all is their de facto leader, Blade.

Imbued with the soul of the German surgeon, Dr. Hess, Blade has a pale face, dark trench coat, and weapons for hands, ensuring that he'll intimidate anyone with whom he comes into contact. A single animated doll is scary, but an army of them is far worse, and it's Blade's leadership that makes him one of the scariest of all time.