5 evil kids in horror films

Horror movies are rarely scarier than when they employ children as the villains. The dissonance between our innocent perceptions of children and the diabolical acts they commit make for striking psychological terror. Here, in honor of "Rings," are five unforgettable films in which children play a deadly role.

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5. 'Let the Right One In' (2008)

This is a close-to-perfect modern-horror marvel — which is amazing, considering it's a Swedish teenage vampire romance. That sounds like a bad idea in print, but in practice, it's stunning. Set against the beautifully stark backdrop of Nordic winter, the film tells the story of a lonely, bullied 12-year-old boy who falls in love with a dark and mysterious neighbor girl with a thirst for blood. Genuinely freaky, it's also an elegant exploration of the loneliness of adolescence.

4. 'Who Can Kill a Child?' (1976)

This Spanish horror film really is as simple as its title: Who can kill a child? That’s the principle that plunges an English couple into a nightmare on their island vacation, where they find a village bereft of adults and prowling with eerie, silent, feral children. Even when the killing starts, their trigger fingers tremble. It’s a film low on dialogue and explanations, and all the creepier for it.

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3. 'The Exorcist' (1973)

It has been over 40 years since "The Exorcist" traumatized a generation of filmgoers, and few scenes since in mainstream film have shocked as much as a little girl doing terrible things to herself with a crucifix. Young Linda Blair went through the cinematic ringer to play a teenage girl possessed by the devil. But William Friedkin's treatment of demonic possession digs thematically deeper than surface vulgarity and visceral shocks, though between spinning heads, pea-soup vomit and unprintable lines of dialogue, there are plenty of those.

2. 'The Bad Seed' (1956)

In her tightly braided blond pigtails and starched pinafore, little 8-year-old Rhoda (Patty McCormack) is the poster child of sugar and spice and everything nice – all the better for getting away with murder. Sociopathy takes root so early in Rhoda’s twisted brain, her mother (Nancy Kelly) is aghast at the suspicions cast her way when a schoolmate turns up dead. McCormack kills it (literally, metaphorically) as a young murderess with a smile as sweet as her heart is dark.

2. 'The Omen' (1976)

Most kids just act like the Antichrist, but this kid is the Antichrist. A shroud of darkness still hangs over the name Damien, the messy-haired, stone-faced child in “The Omen.” Born of a jackal and bearing the mark of the devil, he’s fated to bring about the end of the world. But to his diplomat parents (Gregory Peck, Lee Remick), he’s just a little boy. As with the enduring horror of “The Exorcist,” it doesn’t much matter if you don’t practice the Catholicism that fuels it: We all dread the world’s end, and “The Omen” takes full advantage of that primal fear.

Reach the reporter at barbara.vandenburgh@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8371. Twitter.com/BabsVan.