The Best ‘Creepy Doll’ Horror Movies

The creepy doll is a total classic of the horror movie genre. There’s just something so unsettling about an inanimate, human-like object like a doll coming to life — with evil intentions.

There’s no sign of killer doll movies going out of fashion, either. This week, Universal Pictures dropped the terrifying trailer for the new film M3GAN, which features a creepy doll with an AI twist. M3GAN even does TikTok dances.

If you can’t get enough creepy dolls — particularly in the lead-up to Halloween — we’ve got the definitive ‘creepy doll’ movie list right here. Maybe pop all your childhood dolls safely in the cupboard before pressing play.

Best ‘creepy doll’ horror movies

Magic (1978)

A pioneer in the genre of movies about creepy dolls, Magic stars Anthony Hopkins as a failed magician who decides to create a new ventriloquist act instead. This is surprisingly successful, and he gets a TV show with his puppet and everything is great!

That is…until he starts dating someone new, and his puppet really, really doesn’t like it.

Dolls (1987)

When it comes to cheesy ’80s horror flicks, Dolls is up there with some of the best/cheesiest. This film was one of the first to really embrace the creepy doll trope and sees six people coming together to shelter in a mansion owned by an elderly puppet-maker and his wife. Unfortunately, various puppets and dolls throughout the house are somewhat possessed — but by who…or what?

Child’s Play (1988)

Chucky is probably the most famous creepy doll in the world, due largely to the fact that there have been no less than eight movies starring him. Go back to where it all began with the original Child’s Play, a truly terrifying film with a totally ridiculous premise. Basically, a grieving mother gives her son a doll, not knowing that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

Annabelle (2014)

Annabelle the doll was first introduced in The Conjuring so Annabelle is actually a creepy doll spin-off. If anything, this movie is a great reminder for everyone that vintage dolls are just not good gift ideas, OK?

A husband presents his pregnant wife with a creepy looking vintage doll, who, thanks to devil worshippers, eventually becomes a conduit for unthinkable evil. Of course.

The Boy (2016)

The Boy is sad and spooky all at once. A young American woman named Greta takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village — only to find the child she’s looking after isn’t really a child at all, but rather a life-size doll. When she fails to follow the strict rules set to look after him, things start to go very awry.