Fans of horror know there is nothing scarier than a scary kid - not to mention all of the clues to imminent death that surround them. Nursery rhymes in shrill falsettos, blank eyed dolls, the sound of a carousel... all signs that there is a miniature psycho somewhere nearby (if you spot a treehouse in a snowy garden, it's game over). Here are ten of the most disturbing, spooky and downright devious kids in movies.
10) The Innocents
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"But Miles, its neck... It looks as though..." "Someone had broken it? Yes, poor thing. I'll bury it tomorrow. Kiss me goodnight, Miss Giddens." Deborah Kerr stars as Miss Giddens, the governess sent to that staple of horror films - a big rambling house in the middle of nowhere, to look after that other staple of horror films; two strange children. Miles (Martin Stephens) and his sister Flora (Pamela Franklin) are terribly polite, but they also seem to know things. Are they possessed or precocious? From the opening credits (the sound of children singing, in utter darkness) the stage is set: this film is going to tap every ominous-child cliché there is. The checklist includes a) a deserted playroom with a gently rocking clown, b) a music box with a tune that children can play on the piano or hum creepily and c) a governess who becomes more wild eyed and bonkers as the shadowy house and its occupants get to her. The youngsters are borderline sweet / sinister, and Miles in particular talks to his guardian as if he is an old man ("It was only the wind, my dear...") and she were a neurotic young woman in her first job (which she is). Oh yes, and she accidentally snogs him a little bit.