Summary
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 on Jul 20, 2025, 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 thehorror movie dollslack in stature, they more than make up for with their screen presence, as they delight audiences with their terrifying antics. They tend to 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 ofdolls in horror movies, but some are a great deal scarier than others.
26Charlotte (Charlotte)
One Creepy Doll Forces A Babysitter To Witness Terror
Normally, most evil dolls arm themselves with weapons, taking demented delight in inflicting physical pain, injury, or even death upon their unsuspecting victims, who definitely underestimated their pint-sized foe. While Charlotte still seems very sinister in appearance, she takes a slightly different approach to tormenting the poor babysitter who has the misfortune of being under the same roof as the doll.
She instead ties up her victim and forces her to watch terrifying videos, which are the variousshorts that make up this horror anthology. It is a clever and unique wraparound, doing nothing to deter from the horror of Charlotte’s living doll nature.
25Glenda (Seed Of Chucky)
The Evil Alter Ego Delights In Murder
The saying usually goes that after marriage comes children, and one might not think that would be possible for two animate dolls. However, life finds a way, and Tiffany did indeed give birth to another killer in the form of her and Chucky’s genderfluid doll, who tracks down his parents on the movie set of Jennifer Tilly’s latest flick.
As Glen, he does not relish the idea of killing like his father seems to and wants to live a pacifist life. But then, enter Glenda, who delights in killing and maiming others. She might even be more murderous than her parents, which is an impressive feat.
24Possum
One Of The Most Terrifying Puppets To Grace TV Screens
Disgraced puppeteer Philip Connell returns to his home in Norfolk with his unsettling Uncle Maurice, along with his terrifying puppet Possum. Throughout the course of the film, he tries to get rid of this unusual puppet, simply by throwing it away or even trying to burn it, yet he can’t seem to escape it, like a curse that is stuck with him for life. Nightmarish sequences seem to show that the puppet has self-awareness as it chases him through abandoned buildings or even crawls across the bed towards him.
A truly unsettling creation that has a pale human head atop a body of spider-like limbs, it is little wonder Philip’s career as a puppeteer failed, as who would ever want this creature touted around at their party?
23Blood Dolls (Blood Dolls)
A Trio Of Killer Dolls
Thisstraight-to-video moviemight have escaped the notice of most horror aficionados, but for those who enjoy a cheesy horror flick starring some scary dolls,Blood Dollsis 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.
22Suzie (May)
This Emotional Support Doll Is More Of A Nightmare Than A Comfort
Mayfollows 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.
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 makeMaya scary doll movie to remember.
21The Mannequins (Asylum)
These Small Mannequins Are Incredibly Unsettling
Asylumisa 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.”
20M3GAN (M3GAN)
Her Immense Strength Makes Her A Terrifying Threat
Megan, orM3GANas 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,M3GANshows a nightmarish glimpse intowhat could be humanity’s future.
19Tiffany Valentine (Child’s Play Franchise)
Tiffany Kills People In Creative And Horrifying Ways
Introduced in the thirdChild’s Playmovie,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.
18Heidi (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.
17Dolly 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.
