Parodies of humanity? A mockery of childhood innocence? Things that appear human but aren’t? Tiny unnatural monsters that lurk in dark corners of the heart and mind? This is an ongoing list of movies and TV show episodes that feature dolls of various kinds that display unnatural life and (usually) an evil tendency. The list is in alphabetical order (ignoring initial articles).
• Sources
Angel (TV series)
“Smile Time” (US; ep. 5.102; 18 Feb. 2004; dir. Ben Edlund)
Annabelle (US-2014; dir. John R. Leonetti)
Asylum (UK-1972; dir. Roy Ward Baker; sc. Robert Bloch; segment “Manikins of Horror”)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV series)
“Where the Woodbine Twineth” (US; 11 January 1965; Season 3, Episode 13; dir. Alf Kjellin)
Attack of the Puppet People (US-1958; dir. Bert I. Gordon)
Black Devil Doll from Hell (US-1984; dir. Chester Turner)
Blood Dolls (US-1999; dir. Charles Band)
The Boy (China/Canada/US-2016; dir. William Brent Bell)
Buffy (TV series)
“The Puppet Show” (US; ep. 1.09; 5 May 1997; dir. Ellen S. Pressman)
Child’s Play series
Child’s Play (US-1988; dir. Tom Holland)
Child’s Play 2 (US-1990; dir. John Lafia)
Child’s Play 3 [aka Child’s Play 3: Look Who’s Stalking] (US-1991; dir. Jack Bender)
Bride of Chucky (US-1998; dir. Ronny Yu)
Seed of Chucky (US-2004; dir. Don Mancini)
Curse of Chucky (US-2013; dir. Don Mancini)
The Conjuring (US-2013; dir. James Wan)
Curse, Death and Spirit [aka Honto ni atta kowai hanashi: Jushiryou] (Japan-1992; dir. Hideo Nakata; segment “The Cursed Doll”)
Dangerous Worry Dolls (US-2008; dir. Charles Band)
Das Clown (US-1999; short [8 min]; dir. Tom E. Brown)
Dead of Night (UK-1945; segment “The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” dir. Alberto Cavalcanti)
Dead Silence (US-2007; dir. James Wan)
Death Doll (US-1989; dir. William Mims)
Demonic Toys (US-1992; dir. Peter Manoogian) — review
Demonic Toys: Personal Demons [aka Demonic Toys 2] 2 (US-2010; dir. William Butler)
Demon Island [aka Piñata: Survival Island] (US-2002; dir. David and Scott Hillenbrand)
Der Golem (Germany-1913; dir. Henrik Galeen; co-s. Paul Wegener)
Der Golem: Wie Er in die Welt Kam (Germany-1920; dir. Paul Wegener)
Devil Doll (US-1963; dir. Lindsey Shonteff)
Devil Dolls [aka The Haunted Dollhouse] (US-2012; dir. Ted Nicolaou, Peter Manoogian, Charles Band)
Doctor Who (TV series)
“Terror of the Autons” (Season 8, eps 1-4; UK-2 Jan 1971-23 Jan 1971)
“The Talons of Weng-Chiang” (Season 14, eps 1-6; UK-26 Feb 1977-2 April 1977)
“Rose” (New series, Season 1, ep. 1; UK-26 March 2005)
“The Girl in the Fireplace” (New series, Season 2, ep. 4; UK-6 May 2006)
Dollface (US-2008; short [20 min.]; dir. Jon Springer)
Doll from Hell [aka Ikenie; also Sacrifice] (Japan-1996; dir. Shinobu Murata)
Doll Graveyard (US-2005; dir. Charles Band)
Dollman vs. Demonic Toys (US-1993; dir. Charles Band)
The Doll Master [aka Inhyeongsa] (South Korea-2004; dir. Yong-ki jeong)
Dolls (US-1987; dir. Stuart Gordon)
Dolly Dearest (US-1991; dir. Maria Lease)
The Dummy (2000; dir. Keith Singleton)
The Fear (US-1995; dir. Vincent Robert)
The Fear: Resurrection [aka The Fear: Halloween Night] (US-1999; dir. Chris Angel)
Friday the 13th (TV series):
“The Inheritance” (Season 1, ep. 1, Canada- 28 Sept. 1987; dir. William Fruet)
“Read My Lips” (Season 2, ep. 8; Canada-21 Nov. 1988; dir. Francis Delia)
“The Playhouse” (Season 2, ep. 12; Canada-28 Jan. 1989; dir. Tom McLoughlin)
“Jack-in-the-Box” (Season 3, ep. 17; Canada-23 Apr. 1990; dir. David Winning)
Golem (1936; dir. Julien Duvivier)
Goosebumps (TV series): (you can view all episodes here)
“Night of the Living Dummy II” (US; ep. 10; 12 Jan 1996)
“Night of the Living Dummy III (1)” (US; ep. 43; 20 July 1997)
“Night of the Living Dummy III (2)” (US; ep. 43; 20 July 1997)
“Bride of the Living Dummy” (US; ep. 60; 14 Feb 1998)
The Great Gabbo (US-1929; dir. James Cruze, Eric Stroheim [uncredited])
Gudia (India-1997; dir. Goutam Ghose)
Heidi (US-2014; dir. Daniel Ray)
House of Evil (Mexico/US-1968; dir. Jack Hill and Juan Ibáñez)
The iDol (Japan-2006; dir. Norman England)
Íntimo Terror (Spain-1992; dir. Walter Doehner)
It! (UK/US-1966; dir. Herbert J. Leder) — a Golem movie
Jigsaw (US-2002; dir. Don Adams and Harry James Picardo)
Killer Koala (US-1996; dir. Harry Penderecki)
Lights Out (TV series):
“When Widows Weep” (US/Canada, pilot; 15 Jan 1972; creator Arch Oboler, writer Alvin Boretz, producer Herbert Brodkin)
The Living Doll (France-1908; dir. George Méliès)
Living Dolls (US-1980; short [9:36 min]; dir. Todd Coleman)
The Living Idol (US-1957; dir. René Cardona and Albert Lewin)
Los Muñecos Infernales: Devil Doll Men (Spain-1961; dir. Benito Alazrahi) [aka Curse of the Doll People, US, dir. Paul Nagle]
Love Object (US-2003; dir. Robert Parigi)
Macabre Serenade [aka Dance of Death] (US-Spain, 1968; dir. Juan Ibanez, Jack Hill)
Maelström (UK/Norway-1985; TV mini-series [6 episodes, 300 min.]; dir. David Maloney)
Magic (1978; dir. Richard Attenborough)
Malice@Doll (Japan-2000; dir. Keitarou Motonaga)
Marronnier (Japan-2004; dir. Hideyuki Kobayashi)
May (US-2002; dir. Lucky McKee)
The Melancholy Fantastic (US-2010; dir. A.D. Calvo)
Monsters (TV series):
“Holly’s House” (ep. 2; 29 Oct 1988; dir. Ted Gershundy)
“Manniquins of Horror” (ep. 23; 20 May 1989; dir. Ernest Farino, written by Robert Bloch)
Night Gallery (TV series):
“The Doll” (Season 1, ep. 12; 13 January 1971; dir. Rudi Dorn)
“The Doll of Death” (Season 3, ep. 14; 20 May 1973 ; dir. John Badham)
Ooga Booga (US-2013; dir. Charles Band)
Pin (Canada-1988); dir. Sandor Stern)
Pinocchino’s Revenge (US-1996; dir. Kevin Tenney)
Pulgasari (North Korea-1985; dir. Sang-Ok Sim and Chong Go Jo)
Puppet Master series
Puppet Master (1989; dir. David Schmoeller)
Puppet Master II (1991: dir. Dave Allen)
Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991; dir. David DeCoteau)
Puppet Master 4 (1993; dir. Jeff Burr)
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994; dir. Jeff Burr)
Curse of the Puppet Master (1998; dir. David DeCoteau)
Retro Puppet Master (1999; dir. David DeCoteau and Joseph Tennent)
Puppet Master: The Legacy (2003; dir. Charles Band)
Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys (US-2004; dir. Ted Nicolaou)
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (US-2010; dir. David DeCoteau)
Puppet Master X: Axis Rising (US-2012; dir. Charles Band)
Puppet Master: Axis Termination (US-2017; dir. Charles Band)
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (UK/US-2018; dir. Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund)
Puppets Who Kill (TV series. Canada, 2001-2005; dir. Rob Mills and Shawn Thompson)
Ragdoll (US-1999; dir. Ted Nicolaou)
Reincarnation [aka Rinne] (Japan-2005, dir. Takashi Shimizu)
Robert the Doll (UK-2015; dir. Andrew Jones)
Samurai Princess Gedohime (Japan-2009; dir. Kengo Kaji)
Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework [aka Zona d’ombra: bambole e vudù] (Canada-1997; dir. Stephen Williams)
Shattered Lives (US-2009; dir. Carl Lindbergh)
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (US-1992; dir. Martin Kitrosser)
The Simpsons (TV series)
“Tree House of Horror III: Clown Without Pity” segment (US; ep. 64, 24 Oct. 1992)
Small Soldiers (1998; dir. Joe Dante)
Stitches (US-2000; dir. Neal Marshall Stevens)
Tales From the Darkside (TV series):
“The Geezenstacks” (Season 3, ep. 5; 26 Oct. 1986; dir. Bill Travis)
Tales From the Hood (US-1995; dir. Rusty Cundieff — “KKK Comeuppance” story)
The Tales of Hoffman (UK-1951; dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger — “The Tale of Olympia” segment)
Tiki (US-2006; dir. Ron Ford)
Totem (US-1999; dir. David DeCoteau)
Tourist Trap (US-1979; dir. David Schmoeller)
Trilogy of Terror (US-1975; dir. Dan Curtis — Part 3 “Amelia”, released separately as a short titled “Terror of the Doll”)
Trilogy of Terror II (US-1996; dir. Dan Curtis)
Twilight Zone (TV series):
“The After Hours” (Season 1, ep. 34 [ep. 34]; 10 June 1960; dir. Douglas Heyes)
“The Dummy” (Season 3, ep. 33 [ep. 98]; 4 May 1962; dir. Abner Biberman)
“Living Doll” (Season 5, ep. 6 [ep. 126]; 1 Nov. 1963; dir. Richard C. Sarafian)
“Caesar and Me” (Season 5, ep. 28 [ep. 148]; 10 April 1964; dir. Robert Butler)
Twilight Zone (2003 TV Series):
“The Collection” (ep. 38; 23 April 2003; dir. John T. Kretchmer)
The X-Files (TV Series)
“Chinga” (Season 5, ep. 10; 8 February 1998; dir. Kim Manners; written by Stephen King)
Hardy, Phil (ed.) (1993-), Horror: The Aurum Film Encyclopedia, Aurum Press: London
Internet Movie Database
Miscellaneous correspondents, including Michael Prince, Richard Duran and Dennis Pradere
Extras:
A short video on 10 “real-life” cursed dolls:
I,m looking for the same film Darcy, I remember it the way you describe. I thought the title was a woman’s name. Have to keep looking…
Darcy you’re looking for the puppet master films. The puppet in question is torch
The movie im looking for all i remember is there was a wall that was full top to bottom left to right full of porcelin dolls that came to life but stayed in their package while this other doll killed a man
I am looking for the name of a movie. I saw it when I was a child…I remember it having to do with an evil doll that was found in an attic or something underground. Doll made things go bad: made snakes appear in bath tub, made lady’s belly move and burst into a monster…at the end I remember they burnt the doll but next day it appeared back where little girl found it. If anyone has an idea of what I am talking about please help. Thanks.
Darcy and Julie,
Not sure if this already got answered as I have not scanned all the comments, but in case not:
You are looking for a movie called the trilogy of terror. It is a three part movie and the doll segment is called Amelia.
I’ve been looking for a movie I saw as a child, It had to do with a life-size boy doll that at one point in the movie tries to rape someones mom. He starts humping her and says ” I love you mommy, I love you”. I think it about a boy who wants a brother and gets a robot on or its a puppet master type movie. I think the doll kills other people.
I think this is the one you are looking for. Night Gallery, Trilogy of terror, Part Three “Amelia”
You can find this (the one I found was in 3 parts) on youtube. v=e1pnFLT_k5A should pull it up in a search. Spooky!!!
I was actually looking for one, where the doll formed a spooky attachment to a little girl, and when the parents came in to take away the doll, it looked at them, warningly, with a huge wide mouth full of pointed “shark like” teeth. It may have said something like.. “She’s mine now” but I’m not sure. It was like.. 40 years ago. LOL. I do remember it was a weekly series that I think, was on Sunday evenings. There was Night Gallery, The Twilight Zone, and I am not sure if there was another series along that genre at the time. I haven’t found the exact episode I was looking for though. Hopefully, I can remember it when I see it.
I’m looking for a movie that had 3 possessed dolls. The dolls were identical with blond hair. I think the premise of the movie was that a demon had been released from an ancient tomb and possessed these dolls.
@marylee…..the movie your describing is silent night deadly night 5 : the toy maker. I had actually been looking for the title for a while now . finally i find it on youtube but only clips .
Also this list is missing Amityville dollhouse. Lots of ppl r probably thinking of this one too
I can’t remember the title of this movie I watched as a kid (in the 80s, but I think that was an old movie when I saw it in the 80s or early 90s). There’s this clown doll that’s about two feet tall. It makes this really creepy call sound that goes heee-huuuh… Gosh, I don’t know how to describe it. I remember there’s a 10 to 12-year-old girl and there’s a dark house. I think this clown doll doesn’t harm the girl. Oh and there’s like a scene wherein the girl is in a sort of a casket with this clown doll.
Please help! I really want to find this movie. Thanks!
@Lynn, will you take a look at Ghosthouse (1988)? I think it’s the movie we’re both finding.. heheh
@trunolimit The movie you are looking for is Dolly Dearest. Starts off as a family moving to acquire a toyshop which nearby is a tomb. Enjoy!
Looking for one that came out possibly in the 70s? A little girl and her parents live in this large house. The doll is never quite seen but has conversations with the little girlin her darkened bedroom from the shadows. In one scene she over hears her parents talking about her while she is upstairs in her room. The doll later tries to kill and is running around wearing a black outfit you can never see it (obviously some little kid dressed up in the aforementioned outfit)with a knife in one scene.Anyway i hope someone recognizes my sketchy description. Thanks!!
OMG ‘facebook.com/AHMThrillers’ YOUR AWESOME!!
I’ve been wrecking my head trying to think of that film. thanks!!!
You’re looking at the movie “Trilogy of Terror” with the one of the tales featuring Karen Black. It’s called the Devil Doll or something like that. She took off it’s necklace and that’s when the killing starts. And yes it has very large teeth and red eyes.
As you can see from the listing, the doll segment of “Trilogy of Terror” (1975) [Part 3] is actually called “Amelia”. It was, however, released separately at one point as a short titled “Terror of the Doll”. It is one of the most remembered doll movies I’ve come across.
hi , i’m looking for a movie about this you
ng black guy who made a deal for a doll to get revenge in the people who hurt his grandma or aunt. i can’t remember the rest
I’m looking for a movie that nobody has been able to help me find. I don’t remember much about it other than there was a dollhouse and some small dolls made from straw or something like that. They were crudely made in the shape of a human. I remember them moving around. And I remember them being dissected and having bloody insides. I think there was some satanic imagery, but I’m not positive. I would appreciate any help thanks, it’s driving me insane!!! I think I saw it in the 90s.
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Excellent list!
I’ll mention you and your comprehensive work on THE LAST KNOCK on iTunes on Monday, December 2, 2013 (or Tuesday at the latest). Check it out if you can.
Great work – killer site.
Yours,
Bill
I’m looking for a movie where this dead woman had like 100 something dolls when she was alive. Then this guy gets one of the dolls and it kills people. Then there was something about a ghost-ish thing cutting out people’s tongues if they screamed and they would bleed to death. I watched it as a kid so I don’t remember much about it. Can someone please help me put a name to this movie?
Gary Balkam – Have you found your doll story? I may be looking for the same one. Just watched a Twilight Zone episode with doll, “Talking Tina”. Not the right doll. It was a pretty good episode with Telly Savalas. You would not recognize him. Tina was annoying.
Anyway back to the other doll story…the one I’m looking for definitely had “real” teeth. Please let me know if you have identified it.
Thanks! Jo Anne
Looking for an old movie…possibly 80’s or early 90’s, about a boy who had an evil doll. I think it was a ventriloquist doll (it looked like one) and the boy tied it up with a noose in his closet. I remember a scene where the closet doors fly open at night as the boy is on his bed and the creepy dummy doll is hanging there. I have been googling this movie for what seems like 10 years now and I have had no luck. I have even called video stores inquiring about it and they have no clue what I am talking about. I can still remember being little and begging my Dad to rent it over and over and holding the vhs tape in my hands at the video store….thou I cannot remember what the cover of the box showed. Some one please help!!!!!!!!!!
I’m trying to find the name of a movie with a black haired doll that comes alive. At sometime during the movie it knocks over a bird cage, breaks glass with a hammer, and climbs a book case. My 5yr old daughter keeps bringing this movie up- I have no idea what she’s talking about.
Any help would be appreciated……
I remember seeing the end of a film where someone was driving off in a car and a little Victorian looking doll covers his eyes. The doll may have had a knife? Looked like it was probably made 8n the 70s/80s but set a lot earlier. Any ideas??
Hi! Looking for this movie from the 1970’s. It’s about a little girl that gets sent off to live with mom. When she arrives to her new home, she is given a room full of dolls. One stands out. It is evil and dressed in all black. Been wracking my brain for decades. Please help.
CJ YOU AE LOOKING FOR DEAD SILENCE
i am looking for a film where at the beginning the little boy cuts his willy off and when he grows up, begins to make real life dolls using girls. there was one girl who about a hundred years ago disappeared and when they found her she was in the basement of an old greenhouse. could anybody help me please i think it was made in 2009
Gary Balkan, if you’re still around, you’re looking for the Night Gallery episode that’s listed above as: “The Doll” (Season 1, ep. 12; 13 January 1971; dir. Rudi Dorn), though it’s actually episode 15. Scariest bit of TV that I can ever remember seeing.
I was terrified of dolls most of my life because of this movie I saw when I was five. The only thing I remember about it is it had one of those Victorian dolls with the “real” teeth. Also, there was a scene where it ate part of someone. I am now a doll collector and want to subject my other doll collecting friends to this movie. It had to have been made in 1992 or earlier. Can anyone help?
i am looking for a movie thats kinda old. theres a little girl in it and she has a possesessed doll thats trapped inside of it because of an ancient necklace or something. cant remember the name of this movie for nothing. please help.
I have been looking for this for a longtime. When i was a kid, i saw this episode of a show (maybe 1980 latest to 2005) that was for kids not TVMA. Probbaly tv14. Anyway this boy has a doll about 4 feet with blonde hair who wears overalls over a red and white striped shirt. The doll comes alive and idk what happens but i think harrasses the boy. All i can remember is a scene where the boy or doll is making a sandwich with grape jam if that helps (probably not haha) but im dying to know what show. Thanks!
@Chris The 4′ doll with overalls has gotta be Chucky from “Child’s Play” 1988 There were 6 movies with Chucky in them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chucky_%28Child%27s_Play%29
I’ve been looking for a horror movie where some kids go into an old house on Halloween and get attacked by their nightmares. There was a ventriloquist dummy and I think a kid was killed by Vader…is this real or did I just have an odd dream as a child?
David believe me i know Chucky i have seen all the Child’s Plays and no thats not him. Damn though I wish i could remember this. The doll had longggg arms
I like many others above are looking for a movie on tv early 90s the begining a man fishing who finds a doll in a box he then sticks a hook thru his face. a little girls finds it when people are mean the doll wakes up say mama mama and killes them in a suicidal way the end is the girls mother throwing it in the microwave. can anyone help me
Hey I saw this movie or show and there was like couple stories in one movie I guess. Anyways one of the stories was about a painting or picture frame that was hanged up on the wall and I’m thinking that this all happened in a huge house or something. And I think in the end there was an old lady and she got put into the picture as well. By the way in the picture it was all dolls and at night they would come out.
I’m crossing my fingers…..for years I have been looking for the 1972 hour show called “Lights Out: When Widows Weep”. It starred Joan Hackett . It aired on Jan 15, 1972 and was season 4, episode 57 of “Lights Out”. I remember that it terrified me and I really, really, really want to see it again. I’ve looked all over the internet. Anyone know where I can get it?
I’m looking for a movie that I saw briefly when I was very young. It’s from the 60s or early 70s. There was a scene in which two girls go up to an attic bedroom and there are dolls hanging on the wall and these dolls begin to move and their eyes light up. Can anyone tell me the name of that movie?
Hi guys,
I only got to see the ending of this movie back in the early 2000s
At the end the mom was changing the lightbulb and the girl pushed the mom doll downstairs and actually killed her mom. Please tell me the title of this movie. Much appreciated.
I just gotta say THANK YOU whoever posted this list because I was searching searching and searching for the name of a movie with a boy named Kwame and in the movie a rag doll comes to life to kill his enemies and when I looked over the list and saw Ragdoll I immediately got happy and remembered, because its a movie me and my mom, bless her soul, used to watch all the time, and the doll in that movie is hilarious…..
Thank you again so very much for bringing back those memories……
Yes I,m after a film about a killer doll.It starts off with a young girl going into a store at nightime with her parents and its raining she bulls a doll like a puppet doll.All i remember this doll kills someone as the young girl holds it up to that person face.I remember the young girls runs off with the doll and she goes into a park playing on a swing,at the end of the film two adults take the doll off her and she cries.I rented this film in 1990.Can anyone help.
Hey there!
I am looking for a movie (might as well be an episode of a tv show) that must be from around the ’80s, I guess. I saw it when I was very little, so my memory is kinda fragmented…so bear with me 🙂
I recall a good part of the story taking place in an antique shop…and the owner had a deal with the devil or something? There was a victorian doll involved as well, I think she might have been cursed…and linked to (maybe the cause of) that deal with the devil…
I also remmeber there was an old elevator either inside the shop or in the owner’s building…at some point the gateway to hell opened up…and the devil tried to climb out of it…
I came across DEATH DOLL (1989) which has some similarities – theres is an antique shop, a victorian doll and an old elevator…but it’s more of a supernatural thriller and there’s no storyline involving the devil…so I’m pretty sure that’s not the film I’m looking for.
Does anybody have a clue? It drives me nuts…
THANKS!
Okay there is this movie that i have been looking for everywhere. I only remember a bit of it. So here go’s.
In the movie there is this little girl and i think it was her mom who got her a lifesize doll who looks exactly like the little girl. The doll is evil and comes to life and at another part in the movie the little girl turns into the doll and the doll turns into the girl and the only way the mom figures it out is because of the birth mark that the daughter has bout was not on the doll.
I’m looking for the same movie Andrew. The little girl is called Mary, and the doll always says. “Hello Mary.”
ok so im looking for a movie i saw when i was about five and it was in the early 2000s but in this movie there is a girl and she has a babysitter watching her. she has loads of barbie dolls in a closed shelf anyway the barbie dolls start spreading out around the house in different places hurting the babysitter and such. but in the end they are in a closet and the little girl has a necklace or bracelet something like that an then she’s crrying and such and then she turns the babysitter into a doll. I have no idea what it’s called and it would be a massive help if someone could tell me what movie this is. I’m pretty sure i saw it on mtv but im not absolutely positive
I’m looking for a show that used to come on TV late Friday nights hosted by a creepy ventriloquist doll. The show was basically a series of scary movie clips from various horror movies. That doll was so scary, yet I couldn’t help but watch. I think it came ON WUAB chanel43 in the late 80s.
I’m looking for a movie where this family takes their daughter out to a strange place to buy a doll. I remember a part where they are sitting in a tree house and the doll happened to be evil. I know it’s hardly any information hopefully somebody knows….
well Im looking for a movie I think it was called dolls Im not too sure though I remember it being a old women and man living in the middle of nowhere and had al these attic dolls and this one scene these strippers came to the house trying to steal there stuff and the dolls killed them and the little girls parents the only ones who survived were the little girl and the other man because he had a love for the dolls ever since he was a child please tell me the name of that movie