Children in scary films

As we brainstormed different scary films we enjoyed, we found that a lot of the story lines centred with children, or had references to child like tendencies or bad childhoods. We realised that is was because of the oxymoronic idea of a child, a symbol of innocence, that is evil is particularly scary as it challenges our preconceptions.

In the film 'The Unborn', the story is about the unborn twin of a girl, coming back to haunt her. The idea of a 'ghost child' is distinctly terrifying!

The little girl in 'The Ring', Samara's worn out nightie, pallid complexion and dark hair make her into a very chilling character!

'The Others' main characters are the children and, though they appear not to be the villains, their childish imaginations create tension throughout the film.

The film 'Hide and Seek' explores the idea of a child's imaginary friend gone extreme.

The title is also especially eerie; the name of a favourite childhood game for a scary film creats a wonderful juxtaposition of ideas

'Child's Play' uses the idea of a toy coming alive, which is a surreal notion that frightens a lot of people!

Hopefully we will be able to take some of these elements of scary film forward into our project

Aniya, Beth, Luke & Hannah