Highlights

• Evil dolls are a popular and creepy trend in horror cinema, with their small stature making them difficult to find and stop.
• There are many unsettling horror movie dolls to choose from, each showcasing terrifying antics and abilities.
• From possessed androids to possessed dolls and terrifying baby doll mockeries, these dolls are nightmare-inducing entities.

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.

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 January 17, 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 amount of unsettling horror movie dolls, and horror fans have an entire backlog of scary doll movie options to explore.

20 M3GAN (M3GAN)

Her Immense Strength Makes Her a Terrifying Threat

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 her 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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 a ventriloquist dummy, Fats.

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 Released

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.

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

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 it, 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

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.

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

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 needs 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

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

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

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)

One Of The Biggest Movie Jumpscares Of All Time

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.

The bed jump scare sequence remains one of the most jarring and upsetting horror moments in any movie, and that's all thanks to the clown doll. The clown is menacing in a dozen different ways before it even moves. It's the kind of doll that gives one a bad feeling just looking at it. The moment it is possessed by a supernatural force, things get far, far worse.

4 Blade (Puppet Master)

His Weapon-Hands Make Blade Extremely Dangerous

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.

3 Annabelle (The Conjuring)

Possessed By Something Truly Evil

The Conjuring franchise is one of the longest-running and most successful in all horror, and above all else, there is one doll to thank for that: Annabelle. From the severe eyebrows to the rash-red cheeks and glaring eyes, Annabelle is terrifying on a visual level, and that's even before she comes alive.

The doll and her actions would be scary enough in themselves, but Annabelle benefits from being a member of the expansive universe of The Conjuring. There are multiple, interconnected movies dealing with Annabelle, thus deepening her frightful lore at every turn. Whereas some evil dolls are superficial, with Annabelle, there is always something else horrible to learn.

2 He Who Kills (Trilogy Of Terror)

A Terrifying Vicious And Violent Antagonist

Trilogy of Terror is a 1975 horror anthology film directed by Dan Curtis. The third segment of the anthology, "Amelia," features a woman terrorized by a Zuni fetish doll. "Amelia" contains only a single actor, Karen Black as Amelia, but her performance as she tries to escape the wrathful doll is more than enough to sell the piece.

The doll contains the spirit of a Zuni hunter named He Who Kills, and when the gold chain holding the doll in check slips off, Amelia's apartment becomes a nightmare. From his exaggerated design to his movements through the apartment, He Who Kills is an absolutely terrifying antagonist.

1 Chucky (Child's Play)

Possessed By A Serial Killer, Chucky Is Not To Be Underestimated

Charles Lee Ray was a human serial killer who, in his dying moments, transferred his soul into the body of a Good Guy doll. With that decision, Chucky was born. His appearance is frightening, yes, but more frightening than that is the idea that Chucky embodies in Child's Play.

He is the perversion of goodness, literally turning a Good Guy into a murderous monster just as he transformed into a serial killer in his human life. Chucky's personality, mean spirit, and quips will always keep him close to fans' hearts, even if they never want the character close to anything else in their lives. Despite his height, Chucky stands head-and-shoulders above every other scary doll in cinema.