[Editorial] Top 15 Horror Films with Kids

Kids in horror films are often remembered as falling into two brackets - annoying or evil. If you’re looking for evil, characters like Damien in The Omen (1976) or Malachai in Children of the Corn (1984) are great choices. Or if you love to hate certain characters, Mercy and Jonas in The Witch (2015) or Lukas and Elias in Goodnight Mommy (2014) are probably a good place to start.

However, there are plenty of great horror movies out there where children manage to play a main character in the story without being purposefully irritating or coming across as a villain. The inclusion of a kid’s perspective can be an excellent addition to a horror film, and therefore, there are plenty of amazing horror films that feature children front and centre - here are my 15 favourites!

15. Blood Red Sky (2021)

When we meet Elias, he is on a flight to New York with his apparently sick mother, Nadja, so that she can get treatment for her condition. However, when the plane is taken over by terrorists, it quickly transpires that Nadja is a vampire, and while this means she’s able to take on the terrorists it also puts her relationship with Elias in danger. 

The more times Nadja has to feed to heal and keep her strength up, the more her humanity slips away. Although Elias tries his best to help his mother, once she has tasted his blood, she knows she needs to stay away from him to keep him safe.

14. The Babysitter (2017)

Cole has an incredibly close relationship with his very cool babysitter, Bee, who is one of his only friends. The pair enjoy spending time together and share hobbies and in-jokes, meaning Cole is only too happy for his parents to go away for the weekend and leave him in Bee’s care. 

However, when Cole snoops on Bee after he’s gone to bed, he discovers that she is part of a devil-worshipping cult, and they plan to use his blood in their latest ritual. While Cole finds it easy to fight against the other cult members, his long-standing relationship with Bee makes fighting her a lot more complicated.

13. The Shining (1980)

It may have been Jack that the Overlook Hotel drove to madness, but it was always Danny and his special powers that the evil hotel was really after. Young Danny, through his imaginary friend Tony, can psychically communicate with others and see ghosts, among other things. And considering the Overlook is full of them, it means Danny has a pretty bad time right from the start.

It also means Danny can see how the hotel is influencing Jack to turn him against his family, giving Danny the chance to call for help to try and save him and his mother. 

12. Jaws (1975)

Set in the seaside town of Amity Island, Jaws sees a great white shark attacking the coastline over the Fourth of July weekend, so the movie is teeming with kids. However, two of the most famous scenes in the movie both feature children. First up, in perhaps the most chilling scene in Jaws, is the death of little Alex Kintner, who is eaten a few feet from the shore mostly unnoticed by those around him. 

Secondly, is the scene in the pond when the shark makes another appearance, almost killing Chief Brody’s son, Michael, after the town mayor refuses to close the beach. Michael and his friends are in the water when the shark capsizes their boat and eats another town resident right in front of them.

11. The People Under the Stairs (1991)

After breaking into the house of his landlords, Fool soon discovers that there’s something far darker going on in the Robeson’s’ house. Not only do they keep their ‘daughter’, Alice, locked in her room, but the basement is filled with pale children who have more than a little taste for human flesh. 

There’s also Roach, a young boy who had his tongue cut out by the Robeson’s and now runs all over the house by hiding in the walls. While the children may seem like the monsters of the movie, it’s the Robeson’s who are the real bad guys. Fool, Alice, and Roach team up to ensure they can take the Robeson’s down and escape their house forever.

10. The Fog (1980)

There’s never a good time for killer fog filled with a murderous/dead leper colony to attack your home town, but for Stevie, the timing couldn’t be worse as she’s trapped in a lighthouse and her son, Andy, is at home with his babysitter. And when the babysitter is one of the first people to die, it leaves Andy on his own to fend for himself.

Luckily, Nick and Elizabeth hear Stevie’s distress call and go to her house just in time to rescue Andy from the foggy ghosts. Stevie may be fighting for her life on the roof of the lighthouse, but she makes sure that someone knows her son needs help before even worrying about herself.

9. Paperhouse (1988)

Getting glandular fever sucks, but while she is ill, Anna discovers that she has the power to enter a house she has drawn when she is asleep at night. Anna decides to add someone else to the drawing, and the next time she enters the house she meets Marc, a young boy who is dying in hospital in the real world. 

The pair have fun for a while, but when Anna draws and then crosses out her estranged father, a monstrous version of him shows up at the house, intent on harming Anna and Marc. Together, they have to team up to fight Anna’s father and make it out of the house and back into the real world.

8. Darkness Falls (2003)

In the town of Darkness Falls, losing your last tooth means a visit from the mythical tooth fairy, Matilda Dixon. If you peek at her face though, rather than simply losing your last tooth, you will also lose your life. 

Kyle survives an encounter with Matilda when he’s a child, but as an adult, he has to return to Darkness Falls to help the younger brother of his childhood sweetheart, Caitlin. Knowing that Michael has seen Matilda too, Kyle has to do everything in his power to save him and rid the town of Matilda forever.

7. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Before Scream (1996), we got another slice of Wes Craven's meta-horror brilliance in the form of this A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) sequel. Playing a fictionalised version of herself, Heather Langenkamp has to do everything she can to save her son, Dylan, from a far darker version of Freddy Krueger.

Much like Nancy, Dylan has started having dreams about Freddy, meaning he’s trying to avoid sleep as much as possible. Luckily, his stuffed dinosaur toy, Rex, is on hand to hide under Dylan’s bed covers, fight with Freddy, and keep him in the dream world as long as possible.

6. Poltergeist (1982)

In the Poltergeist movies, the Freeling children don’t have a good time of it. While it’s Carol Anne that’s sucked through the portal in her closet and taken to another dimension, it doesn’t mean Dana and Robbie manage to escape getting terrified too. 

In fact, Robbie arguably has a worse time of it, as not only is he almost eaten alive by a tree monster and attacked by his incredibly creepy toy clown, but he’s also almost pulled into another realm when the Beast returns for Carol Anne at the end of the movie. 

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5. Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Is Claudia a vampire? Yes…but that doesn’t make her a villain in Anne Rice’s sympathetic tale of what life is like for a vampire. Turned when she was only a child, Claudia’s mind grows up but her body is stuck the same age forever, meaning she has a lot of internal struggles to grapple with as she lives out her immortal life with Louis and Lestat.

Eventually, Claudia decides that she would be happier if it were just her and Louis, and so she hatches a plan to rid them of Lestat’s controlling ways. While her methods may be a little extreme, she gets the job done, and takes Lestat down when he least expects it.

4. Aliens (1986)

A space colony is perhaps not the best place to raise a small child, especially when it turns out that colony is also home to a bunch of acid-blooded aliens who make killing humans a hobby. When Newt’s colony is attacked, her entire family is killed, leaving her to fend for herself and spend her nights hiding from the aliens.

Things get a little bit brighter when Ripley and the Colonial Marines turn up and do their best to keep Newt safe in terrifying circumstances. And despite the best efforts of the aliens, including the alien queen herself, Ripley is able to keep Newt alive at every turn, with only the two of them and Hicks left alive.

3. Lamb (2021)

There has never been nor will there ever be a horror movie kid that is more adorable and can pull off a duffle coat better than Ada from Lamb. When Maria and Ingvar discover a half-sheep half-human baby on their farm, they decide to take it in and raise it as their own. While there’s plenty of judgement from both Ada’s sheep mother and Ingvar’s brother, the couple is undeterred and do everything they can to keep Ada with them.

Though her growth appears accelerated, we get to see little Ada grow from a baby to a child of about six years old. Though she cannot speak to her adoptive parents, she communicates perfectly well and seems to be living a happy life, unaware of her true parentage.

2. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Based on the Enfield poltergeist, The Conjuring 2 follows the Hodgson family when their new house appears to be haunted by not just one ghost, but a whole bunch of creepy houseguests. While other children in the family have creepy encounters, it is Janet who experiences the worst hauntings and ends up being possessed by the house’s former resident, Bill Wilkins.

Between Bill, the demon nun, Valak, who is manipulating the situation to her advantage, and regular appearances by all-round creepshow the Crooked Man, the whole family is terrorised, with Ed Warren having to swoop in at the last minute to save Janet from the demonic influence.

1. IT (1990)

If I was going to pick any horror movie children to be friends with it would definitely be the Losers Club from IT. When seven outcasts from the town of Derry form a fast friendship, they soon discover that there is something very evil lurking underneath the streets and regularly killing children. 

When none of the adults in town believe anything is wrong, the Losers realise it is up to them to take on Pennywise and rid Derry of the terrible creature which returns every 27 years to feed on terrified children.

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