The concept of stealing innocence and turning it in to spawns from hell has always been a hook in the horror genre. It has proven to be a very good recipe through the years, and I am sure we will see more of these films in years to come. This is my list of Top 5 Killer Kids from Hell Horror Movies.
1. Regan MacNeil – The Exorcist
Novelist William Peter Blatty based his best-seller on the last known Catholic-sanctioned exorcism in the United States. Blatty transformed the little boy in the 1949 incident into a little girl named Regan, played by 14-year-old Linda Blair. Suddenly prone to fits and bizarre behavior, Regan proves quite a handful for her actress-mother, Chris MacNeil (played by Ellen Burstyn, although Blatty reportedly based the character on his next-door neighbor Shirley MacLaine). When Regan gets completely out of hand, Chris calls in young priest Father Karras (Jason Miller), who becomes convinced that the girl is possessed by the Devil and that they must call in an exorcist: namely, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). His foe proves to be no run-of-the-mill demon, and both the priest and the girl suffer numerous horrors during their struggles. The Exorcist received a theatrical rerelease in 2000, in a special edition that added 11 minutes of footage trimmed from the film’s original release and digitally enhanced Chris Newman’s Oscar-winning sound work.
2. Samara Moran – The Ring
A disturbing videotape appears to hold the power of life and death over those who view it in this offbeat thriller. A strange videotape begins making the rounds in a town in the Pacific Northwest; it is full of bizarre and haunting images, and after watching it, many viewers receive a telephone call in which they are warned they will die in seven days. A handful of teenagers who watched the tape while spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains scoff at the threat, but as predicted, they all die suddenly on the same night. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), the aunt of one of the ill-fated teens, is a journalist who has decided to investigate the matter and travels West with her young son, Aidan (David Dorfman), a troubled child who has been drawing pictures of strange and ominous visions. Rachel managed to find the cabin in the woods and watches the video herself; afterward, she receives the same phone call, and realizes she must solve the puzzle of the video and the person or persons behind it within a week. Rachel turns to her ex, Noah (Martin Henderson), an expert in video technology, who at first is convinced the story is a hoax until he digs deeper into the mystery. The Ring was adapted from a 1996 Japanese film by Hideo Nakata, which became a massive box-office success in Asia and spawned two sequels
3. The Omen – Damien
Satan’s son has arrived on Earth and He’s not about to let human parents get in the way. When his wife Katherine’s (Lee Remick) pregnancy ends in a stillbirth in a Rome hospital, U.S. diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) substitutes another baby, whose mother died. Little Damien (Harvey Stephens) thrives, but, at his fifth birthday party, his nanny mysteriously dies; Father Brennan (Patrick G. Troughton) also expires after warning Thorn that he has adopted Lucifer’s son. While sinister new nanny Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) assiduously protects Damien, Thorn’s fears escalate when photographer Jennings (David Warner) shows him pictures from Damien’s party with marks suggesting how the nanny and Brennan would die. Thorn seeks out Bugenhagen (Leo McKern), an exorcist who confirms Damien’s identity and tells Thorn that the only solution is to kill his adopted son. As the bodies pile up, Thorn tries to do his duty, but trust the law to get in the way of saving the world from future Armageddon
4. The Grudge – Toshio
This American remake of director Takashi Shimizu’s popular Japanese movie franchise The Grudge puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Sarah Michelle Gellar back into the line of supernatural fire. When Karen (Gellar), an American student working with a Japanese health center for college credit, comes across a mysterious curse, she quickly finds herself embroiled in a fight for her own sanity, and, ultimately, her very survival. Known as a “grudge,” the curse was born inside of a house after its inhabitants died while consumed by rage — according to legend, the curse touches all who come into contact with it, and will torment those unlucky individuals until they, too, become part of the grudge . Each time the curse finds a new victim, it is, in a sense, reborn, and will continue on its path unless Karen can free herself from its control over her. This version of The Grudge is also directed by Shimizu, and features Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, Kadee Strickland, William Mapother, and Bill Pullman in supporting roles
5. The Unborn – Barto
Blade II and Batman Begins scribe David S. Goyer writes and directs this supernatural thriller about a 19-year-old girl (Odette Yustman) haunted by a “dybbuk” (a malevolent wandering soul of Jewish folklore) that was once a young boy ruthlessly slaughtered in Auschwitz. Casey Beldon (Yustman) was just a young girl when her mother vanished out of her life. And though Casey has never forgiven her mother for abandoning their family, she begins to understand why when a tortured ghost begins stalking her by day, and horrific nightmares make her scared of falling asleep at night. Hoping that her spiritual advisor, Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman), possesses the power to make these awful visions stop, Casey enlists his aid and gradually uncovers a family curse that stretches all the way back to Nazi Germany. An entity with the ability to possess anyone or anything that it comes into contact with is stalking Casey from another plane of reality, and it’s gaining strength with each new possession. Now, as the curse is unleashed, the frightened girl realizes that her only chance for survival is to close a door that was pried open by someone who was never born, and prevent the force from crossing over into the physical world. Though her sympathetic boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) and best friend (Meagan Good) do everything they can to help, Casey is ultimately left to face this otherworldly horror on her own.
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