It's often been stated that in order to be truly hated, one must first be truly loved. That is when the greatest of villains are born. When an object that is harmless or beloved is used as a symbol for evil - resulting in dismemberment, death, and all-around unpleasantness - the results are fairly similar. Toys are meant to be an outlet for a children's, or in some cases adults', imaginations. Dolls, toy soldiers, race cars, and action figures allow people to stitch together their own reality... but what happens when someone's imagination is no longer at play and dark forces are at work? What happens when you're no longer the one doing the playing but, instead, the one being played with? After all, nothing is more terrifying than something you find safe and familiar being used against you as an instrument intended for your painful and immediate demise. Throughout history, toys have proven to be some of the deadliest, most fearsome, and most memorable characters in film. And more often than not, audience members have found themselves, at first, frightened of these pint-sized terrors before suddenly rooting for them on their path of destruction; sometimes brought on by the utter stupidity of the human characters or simply because the formerly-inanimate killers proved to be more charismatic than their real-life enemies. From foul-mouthed playthings to racially-offensive totems, from camouflage-covered figurines to stringless marionettes, from demonic toys to possessed dolls, these are ten films where you wound up rooting for the killer toys!
Tommy Bobby Watanabe is an aspiring American novelist, stage actor, playwright, former LGBT rights activist, and has three years of independent professional wrestling experience and has been a big fan since 1998. An avid horror movie buff and comic book aficionado, TBW is honored to be featured on WhatCulture with some of the Internet's most talented writers and looks to spread his own knowledge and wit to WhatCulture's loyal readers.
