Killer toys are fictional characters based on toys, dolls or puppets that commit violent acts. Reasons for these actions have included possession by demons, monsters, ghosts, supernatural creatures, dark magic or in the case of Small Soldiers, military technology.
Concept of killer toys
Toys coming to life is a common and historical concept in children's literature, and the idea has been adapted into numerous horror films and other horror fiction. The 1978 film Magic represents a key inspiration for subsequent films, while the subgenre's best-known films are the Child's Play film series.
Due to their association with childhood innocence and their resemblance to human beings, dolls and puppets have long been the subject of horror stories and modern tastes have not forgotten such stories, allowing the evil puppet/doll subgenre of villainy to survive as a strong contender in the world of horror and the supernatural. An early exemplar of the trope is the Ventriloquist's dummy episode of Dead of Night, starring Michael Redgrave as the vent, and John Maguire as the dummy. Killer toys are common trope in television and film, whereby a child's dolls and toys are in some way capable of magic, often causing harm to adults who are seen as in some way against the doll's owner, usually a child. The killer toy trope is based on pediophobia, pupaphobia and automatonophobia, the fear of dolls, toys, puppets or ventriloquist's dummies.
List of films
The films that feature the Killer Toys are listed in alphabetical order:
In television
- The theme of evil toys has also been used in Doctor Who in the serial "The Celestial Toymaker".
- An evil doll was used in several episodes of both the 1959 and 2002 versions of The Twilight Zone
- "Living Doll" from the 1959 Twilight Zone which featured Talky Tina (voiced by June Foray), a doll belonging to the stepdaughter of Erich Streator (plated by Telly Savalas).
- "The Dummy," also from the 1959 Twilight Zone features a ventriloquist dummy that attempts to exact revenge when he is replaced.
- "Caesar and Me," also from 1959 Twilight Zone features another ventriloquist dummy that goads his owner into committing robberies and deserts him when the police come for him.
- An episode of the 2002 series titled "The Collection" features a young girl's strange collection of dolls which were made from her past babysitters.
- The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror III" segment, "Clown Without Pity", features a Krusty doll that tries to kill Homer. The segment borrows elements from the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll", the Child's Play films, Gremlins, the 1975 TV film Trilogy of Terror segment "Amelia" about a killer Zuni fetish doll as well as its 1996 cinematic sequel Trilogy of Terror II segment "He Who Kills", which are both in turn adaptations of Richard Matheson's 1969 short story, "Prey". The segment also borrows elements from Cape Fear. In a different episode, "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", a possessed killer doll named "Baby Button Eyes" appears in a horror film, The Re-Deadening (a parody of Dolly Dearest). The doll is most likely based on the real-life appearance of "Annabelle", a possessed Raggedy Ann doll.
- In the Mega Man episode "Crime of the Century," Dr. Wily reprograms a bunch of dolls and other toys to perform robberies all over the city. However, it's all just a diversion so Wily can get his hands on something much more valuable: a giant black pearl.
- Ventriloquist dummies and dolls are also portrayed as evil in the works of R.L. Stine.
- The Goosebumps books and TV series had the "Night of the Living Dummy" stories which featured a sentient ventriloquist dummy named Slappy.
- R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour featured Lilly D. in the episodes "Really You" Pt. 1 and 2 and "The Return of Lilly D."
- In the What's New, Scooby Doo? episode "Toy Scary Boo," the gang investigate a store with living toys who are taking it over.
- In the Duel Masters franchise, the concept of the killer toys are featured in the Death Puppets of the Darkness Civilization.
- In Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters (a re-imaging version of the Duel Masters franchise), the Evil Toys were renamed from the Death Puppets.
- In Grojband episode "No Strings Attached," Trina Riffin suffers from pupaphobia after she had wicked visions of puppets when she was a child.
See also
- Automatonophobia
- Pediophobia
- Pupaphobia
References
