Top 20 Creepiest Child Performances in Horror Movies

These kids are hella creepy! For this list, we’re looking at child actors who left a memorably creepy impression upon our collective psyches. Our countdown of creepy child performances in horror movies includes Amie Donald as M3GAN, Macaulay Culkin as Henry Evans, Drew Barrymore as Charlie McGee, Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance, and more! What infamous horror kid left you cowering under a bed in fear? Let us know in the comments!

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#Acting

[WatchMojo]

What infamous horror kid left you cowering under a bed in fear? Let us know in the comments!

[trinaq]

Isabelle Fuhrmann absolutely blew me away in "Orphan", she was definitely convincing, and really pulled off playing a grown woman trapped in a little girl's body, at only twelve years old.

[trinaq]

In spite of the controversy of how Kubrick treated his actors, namely Shelley Duvall, on the "Shining" set, it's heartwarming that he was genuinely concerned that six year old Danny Lloyd would be traumatised from the dark elements, so did his best to shield him by treating each scene like a game. Lloyd didn't even realise what the movie was really about until he saw it a decade later on TV. The creepy twins were also chillingly effective.

[trulex]

Esther was a rare masterpiece. All of them playing such a characters at their age deserve a bow.

[Sunprism]

Ooooh, Thanks for giving The Good Son a moment to shine. Anyone who thinks Culkin wasn't an A+ child actor needs to see that movie, He's damn spine tingling.
Story Goes that he only did Home Alone 2 if everyone involved agreed to help him do a horror movie

[justapeacefulmanwhosbornin]

Isabelle Fuhman did a great job playing Esther in both the original and the 2022 prequel.

[ЯрославШ-жм]

Linda Blair’s performance as Reagan McNeil really scared the shit out of me when I watched Exorcist

[missydehart]

Linda Blair is definitely deserving of #1.

[PayneMaxx]

Isabelle Fuhrmann did such an amazing. Orphan is definitely one of the best movies ever made. Shame that it’s so underrated.

[treetopterra]

I'd give an honorable mention to Georgie from the new It movies. Even though it's really Pennywise, the actor does an incredible job of messing with Bill.

[bryanmahoney]

Yuya Ozeki who played Toshio Saeki in The Grudge for me easily the creepiest kid in Horror movies. That kid literally had me needing to watch a Disney movie afterwards.

[justapeacefulmanwhosbornin]

All these young individuals between the ages of 3 and 13 did a very good job on their performances in all 20 scary movies.

[TheOfficialTarynTots]

I think the boy from Pet Semetery should be higher on the list since it's hard for a child that young to act the way he did. He couldn't have been more than 3.

[mrhoffame]

With hearing "They're Heeeree" and "Here's me think you should do a Top 20 BEST LINES in a horror movie.

[slywlf]

I still remember being utterly creeped out watching The Bad Seed many many years ago, and that child's performance was the reason. Terrifying!

[themartyflorence]

After years of watching hundreds of horror films I truly believe Isabelle Fuhrmans performance deserves to be at the top of this last as I have never seen anything like it

[chelseacanales]

Heather O Rourke scared me when I saw the Poltergeist when I was a teenager.

[gidgitvonlarue]

So the child from Child's Play choice makes no sense. He was SO innocent. The girl in Hereditry was just scary looking. And you missed a HUGE one - Isaac and Malakaye from Children of the Corn.

[landynferrill]

Samara Morgan, M3gan, and Regan Macneil scared me the most during bed time. All these child actors did an amazing job portraying their characters.

[RhaegarTargaryenst]

You highlighted Martin Stephens as part of the child cast of "Village of the Damned" (1960) but I think he gave an even more creepy and frighteningly adult performance as the possibly possessed Miles in "The Innocents" (1961).
I would also have put Jacob Kogan's chilling performance as the titular character in "Joshua" (2007) on the list.