Line #228 Main/CreepyChild


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13	[[quoteright:290:[[Film/TheAddamsFamily https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wednesday_addams.png]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:290:"I'll clean my room... in exchange for your soul."]]
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19
20	->'''Marge:''' ''[looking out the window to the front lawn]'' There's something about flying a kite at night that's so ''unwholesome.''\
21	'''Bart:''' ''[turns head to the window. In monotone:]'' ''Hello, mother dear.''
22	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands The PTA Disbands]]"
23
24	They look sweet, innocent, even angelic, but there's [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior something not quite right about them]]. They're [[DissonantSerenity too calm]], [[WiseBeyondTheirYears too knowing]]. They aren't really children any longer, not at heart.
25
26	Children ''should'' be [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent]] and in need of adult protection. By inverting this, the trope arouses deep-rooted fears. The Creepy Child might not be physically dangerous, but their profound unnaturalness is just as chilling.
27
28	Creepy children are frequently female, and often {{Emotionless Girl}}s. They can be, among other things, a RobotGirl, an OracularUrchin, a [[ChangelingTale changeling]], a WaifProphet, or [[EnfantTerrible Evil]]. As prophets, they emanate otherworldliness; as [[DarkIsNotEvil heroes]], they may elicit distrust and contempt from the rest of TheTeam sans the TeamMom, and as villains they [[CuteIsEvil remain cute even while the bodies pile up around them]]. They usually have an IronicNurseryTune theme.
29
30	May be holding a CreepyDoll or a BalloonOfDoom or enjoying EntertainmentAboveTheirAge. A girl wearing an EtherealWhiteDress is usually the Creepy Child. If a Creepy Child is shown drawing, it will usually be a NightmareFuelColoringBook. You really don't want them to start [[CreepyChildrenSinging singing]].
31
32	If the child is seen as creepy because they're doing things that aren't appropriate for their age, like drinking alcohol, see TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior.
33
34	Compare and contrast PsychopathicManchild and the usually much more proactive and physically dangerous EnfantTerrible for which it can be seen as a supertrope. See also UndeadChild and AmbiguousInnocence. Also compare CreepyCute.
35
36	[[noreallife]]
37	----
38	!!Example subpages:
39	[[index]]
40	* CreepyChild/AnimeAndManga
41	* CreepyChild/ComicBooks
42	* CreepyChild/FanWorks
43	* [[CreepyChild/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]
44	* CreepyChild/{{Literature}}
45	* CreepyChild/LiveActionTV
46	* CreepyChild/VideoGames
47	* {{CreepyChild/Webcomics}}
48	* CreepyChild/WebOriginal
49	* CreepyChild/WesternAnimation
50	[[/index]]
51	----
52	!!Other examples:
53	[[foldercontrol]]
54
55	[[folder:Advertising]]
56	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNDkTbadF3E This commercial]] for Cingular's pre-paid [=GoPhones=] played with this trope, featuring loads of Creepy Children, including a pair of white-kneesocks-wearing twin girls [[CreepyChildrenSinging sing-songing "we want a cell phone"]] and a teenage girl on a swing saying that she "want[s] to [[HearingVoices hear the voices]]". It ended with a message to parents that they shouldn't be scared to buy cell phones for their kids, because with a [=GoPhone=], they have a pre-paid number of minutes and text messages and won't rack up [[CrackIsCheaper "scary" bills]]. Although, if you had kids like that, wouldn't ''you'' be wary about giving them what they want?
57	* The early "Dead Zone" ads for Verizon featured pairs of creepy siblings (two brothers in dress attire and [[Film/TheShining identical twin girls wearing blue dresses]]).
58	* An ad for Australian real estate agent L.J. Hooker ended with a creepy girl's gratitude "Thank you, Mr. Hooker". The really scary part was, she probably wasn't ''meant'' to be creepy.
59	* The "Double Life" Platform/PlayStation advert, back in the late 90s/early 2000s featured a memorably creepy, world-conquering, Scottish child of indeterminate gender. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA Check it out, 43 seconds in.]]
60	%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur9vl95IdAQ This TV spot]] for the 2006 Fantasia Film Festival features a creepy little girl.
61	%%* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dXRsnWGkUs This nerf gun commercial]] featuring a young Devon Sawa.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
65	* ''ComicStrip/InSecurity'' has Roy and Charlene’s baby daughter Gabby due to her [[BigOlEyebrows eye]][[EvilEyebrows brows]].
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
69	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' has Robin. Yes, the Boy Wonder of Batman. [[spoiler:After you see what the Joker's turned him into, courtesy of MindRape it definitely ends up as this. The poor kid has a manic grin, just like the Joker's, plastered over his face, and ''his high-pitched giggling'' make it downright terrifying.]] Then [[spoiler:[[TearJerker he starts crying, with the same manic grin plastered on his face, after he shoots the Joker]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etst4t3ES8Y In the unedited version, it seems even more sickening.]]]] It's so powerful that Creator/MarkHamill, the voice actor for the Joker in this (and a lot of other stuff), said the whole scene was something ''he almost just couldn't do.''
70	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBabyFamilyBusiness'', we have an unnamed, pale-skinned, redheaded little girl who speaks in a very raspy voice and who always says that she likes ponies in a sinister manner. She likes to pop up out of nowhere to startle people.
71	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'':
72	** The Ghost Children. Especially the one with her mouth frozen open in an expression of perpetual horror. It's exactly their victimisation that makes them feel creepy even though they wish nothing but the best for Coraline.
73	** Depending on your point of view, the other Wybie could qualify in the beginning. There's just something creepy about his constant smile, which is also a product of being forced to be that way by the Other Mother and needing to be forced because he also has Coraline's best interests at heart.
74	* Many of the children from ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'', especially E.Gore and Weird Girl.
75	* A mild example in ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' with Suliman's servants. There's something very disturbing about the way they all look identical, and like a younger version of Howl.
76	* Lilo from ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''. She says things like "My friends need to be punished" in a monotone while placing spoons decorated as her Hula Halau-mates from a previous scene in a pickle jar and watching them, all while sitting next to a book titled "Practical Voodoo". She gets better, this being a Disney movie. Completely ''justified'', considering that the movie takes place shortly after her parents are killed in a car crash and this is her way of coping with the loss.
77	* Lizzie, a girl at the science fair in ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'':
78	-->'''Teacher:''' N-Now, what did we say about the fire ants? They have a tendency to bite people.\
79	'''Lizzie:''' Only my '''enemies'''.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Lock, Shock, and Barrel, being between the apparent ages of 4 and 6, are the youngest residents of Halloween Town seen in the film. They're also some of the creepiest, and some of the few who are actually malicious (although this may be because of Oogie Boogie's influence).
81	* ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'' plays with this trope quite a bit. It's deconstructed throughout the film, peaking at [[spoiler:adults willing to kill children because they're terrified of them. But then it's reconstructed]].
82	* In ''Anime/Pokemon3: Spell of the Unown'', Mii/Molly is an innocent child whose mother left due to her husband being obsessed with studying the Unown, and Molly's father is taken by the Unown themselves. While playing with the Unown tiles, she summons the Unown, who create an illusion Entei. She proceeds to use her innocent desire for friends and parent figures to [[spoiler:have Entei kidnap Ash's mom and brainwash her into think that she's Molly's mother, get a ''lot'' of the countryside covered in weird crystals, and when Ash tries to get his mother back, she spawns waaaay too many of said crystals, in spikes]]. To make matters worse, she ends up being able to control the Unown, and ends up as [[spoiler:a little girl in a grown woman's body trying to be grown up. She even has three crystal Pokémon, which are all based off three cute mons, but are all insanely powerful]].
83	* Haku of ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' comes off as this. Subverted in that he's actually quite nice.
84	* Lumalee in ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' is an adorable {{Sentient Star\|s}} who, thanks to being in Bowser's prison for quite a long time, has developed a cheery disposition on [[DeathSeeker wanting to die]] and keeps saying depressing things that frustrate the other prisoners. He's implied to be a kid, as he has a child-like voice that is contrasted with his nihilist attitude [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]].
85	* Sid in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', especially to toys, due to his destructive behaviour and make-believe sadism -- a point of view likely shared by his camp's human counsellors, given that they couldn't wait until the end of the season to get rid of him.
86	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': There's a wall-eyed child Troll. For one thing, he likes watching his parents as they're sleeping.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Folklore & Mythology]]
90	* One {{Urban Legend\|s}} is about people claiming to have encountered "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_children black-eyed children]]" (also known as "black-eyed beings" and "black-eyed kids", or just BEK), which are pretty much [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what you would expect]] -- creepy children with pure {{black eyes\|OfEvil}} who are said to mean humans no good at all.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Music]]
94	* The video to Music/{{Portishead}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vozNQX6Ye1A All Mine]]" features an extremely unnerving little girl lipsyncing the song.
95	* Music/AliceCooper's song "Years Ago" is supposedly narrated by Steven, a lost child who only does monotone. the song is set to a species of CreepyCircusMusic.
96	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ujmb3jQAJE Turn around, Briiight eyes!]]
97	* The music video to Music/AvengedSevenfold's "Nightmare" has a little blonde girl covered in blood and smiling while tossing a ball around which is also covered in blood.
98	* The video to Music/TheProdigy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d398AVbwW2E&feature=related "Omen"]] features a creepy little girl playing a Xylophone to bookend the piece.
99	* The video to the Music/YeahYeahYeahs' [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1gfdp_yeah-yeah-yeahs-y-control_music Y Control]] features a small army of them. And they're armed.
100	* The little girl in the video for Music/{{Skrillex}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cXDgFwE13g First of the Year]]" looks super-creepy but less scary than the usual because [[spoiler: it's implied that she only lures child molesters into the abandoned car park to be killed by a demon she controls]]
101	* The album cover for Music/TheyMightBeGiants' ''[[http://tmbw.net/wiki/John_Henry John Henry]]''... You try looking at a girl staring blankly with a pickaxe in her hands and not have the jibblies...
102	* The music video by Music/{{OOMPH}}! - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcN-QoReNv8 Augen Auf]]" features a birthday party where the Adults are innocent, but the Children are the ones with more devious intent.
103	* All of the children in the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2RFcrreoE8 "Circle You, Circle You"]]. It comes off as more sad than anything when you realize that they are living in an OrphanageOfFear and have been horrifically experimented on in order for some {{Mad Scientist}}s to (successfully) discover the secret to [[ImmortalityImmorality immortality]]. Said scientists would force the children to play the Japanese children's game [[DeadlyGame "Kagome, Kagome"]] and then [[AnArmAndALeg cut off]] [[NeckSnap a]] [[OffWithHisHead limb]] whenever they lost. The children play this game with wayward visitors even after the scientists are long dead, making the song a good case of horror all the same.
104	* "Kids With Guns" from Music/{{Gorillaz}}' ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum''.
105	* The girl on the album cover of ''Music/BeautifulFreak'' by Music/{{Eels}}.
106	* The three children in the video of "Boys Don't Cry" by Music/{{The Cure\|Band}} have a bit of this. Especially their shadows.
107	* The video for "Devils Look Like Angels" by Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band features an adorable little blonde girl in a pretty dress... who goes around slashing tires, stealing from homeless people, and getting tattooed. [[GlamorFailure Except for the parts where she's not adorable, anyway.]]
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Pinball]]
111	* Wednesday Addams from ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'', who's seen relaxing in the graveyard.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Podcasts]]
115	* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'': Agnes in "Burned Out". She stays that way into adulthood.
116	* ''Podcast/TheFallenGods'' Episode 6 ends with the party finding a small child standing in the centre of a draconian treasure horde with solid black eyes, the power to stop weapons from hitting it, and demanding to kill and eat them. [[spoiler: Turns out, it's a baby dragon disguised in human form]].
117	* ''Podcast/SickSadWorld'': It's mentioned when cult leader Charles Manson was in the first grade, he manipulated classmates into hurting people he didn't like. Another infamous killer and cult leader, Jim Jones, held funerals for animals and likely killed some of them.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
121	* Wrestling/TheWyattFamily used creepy children, most notably wearing sheep masks and brown cloaks, and having [[CreepyChildrenSinging the children sing Christian hymns in a evil manner]] in several of their feuds, most notably with Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/DanielBryan and their girlfriends [[Wrestling/BellaTwins The Bella Twins]]. In several matches, children under the Wyatt Family's control have interfered in their matches against Cena and Bryan.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Radio]]
125	* In the radio adaptation of ''Radio/DrJekyllAndMrHyde'', Mr. Jekyll and Utterson are terrified at the expression of wrath in the young Henry's face, noting that the first time it happened was when he was two years old.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
129	* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': Younger Fetch Children (the better of the two results of a [[EvilTwin Fetch]] successfully conceiving a baby) are explicitly mentioned as being slightly autistic, which gets ''really spooky'' when [[GlamourFailure they start asking about a Changeling's Mien]] and open gates to [[EldritchLocation the Hedge]] by being in the general area. [[TheCharmer They get better, though]], and what's more, [[HolyHandGrenade they're inherent weapons against the True Fae]]. Thus, if you see a Fetch Child, keep him alive, [[EnfanteTerrible and breathe a sigh of relief that he wasn't a Fetch Spawn.]]
130	* ''TabletopGame/CurseOfStrahd'': The "Death House" KaizoTrap section starts when you see two children asking you to help them because there's a monster in the basement, and the nursemaid is alone with the baby. Sufficient exploration of the house will reveal [[spoiler:the corpses of the same children, along with their ghosts]]. You can help them by [[spoiler:carrying their corpses down to the family crypt and burying them properly,]] as they'd been left in their room [[spoiler:and forgotten about, leaving them to starve to death]]. {{Downplayed}} in that the both are also rather normal even with the spoiler information, just in an unusual situation.
131	* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The predilections of the Deathlord known as the Dowager... well... we'll let [[http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Things_one_is_not_allowed_to_do_in_Exalted Things One Is Not Allowed to Do in Exalted]] spell it out.
132	-->Not all Abyssals are creepy little girls.\
133	1. Except when the focus of the game is on the Dowager, that is.\
134	2. Even then she Exalts creepy little boys too.
135	* The short-lived ''Immortal'' RPG featured the Peri, youngsters rescued from the Children's Crusade and made into immortals whose talent is to transform their bodies into weapons. The game's soundtrack had a bit with the sound of someone being stabbed, followed by a childish voice saying, "G'night!" and giggling. Worth noting is that ''Immortal'' has been revived as a free RPG, available [[http://www.invisiblewar.com/main.html here]], although the Creepy Children described have been retconned into being just ''part'' of the Peri as of the current edition; many of the others are still Creepy Children, though, just from different origins.
136	* ''TabletopGame/InNomineSatanisMagnaVeritas'': Children of a demon and a human can be either normal kids, demons, or official creepy children. You gotta love the illustration on that chapter in the rulebook.
137	* ''TabletopGame/LunchMoney'' features monochrome pictures of a young girl with nursery rhymes and other sayings having vaguely to do with the cards' intended effects. The artwork is fairly surreal, but becomes truly creepy when one considers that the cards represent the character's actions in a brutal street fight (i.e. Punches, Kicks, hitting a guy with a chain, etc.).
138	* ''TabletopGame/{{Malifaux}}'': This pops up several times. The main contenders are from the Neverborn: Candy is the Woe of Innocence Lost, who takes the form of a small girl with pigtails and a basket of (poisoned) sweets; Baby Kade is a wild eyed baby with a knife and a penchant for killer teddies. There are also more sympathetic examples, The Stolen are [[Literature/PeterPan Lost Boys]]-style pre-teen boys lured into The Breach and [[PoweredByaForsakenChild used ruthlessly as meat shields or sources of power]].
139	* In ''The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor'', an expansion for the RPG ''TabletopGame/MonstersAndOtherChildishThings'', the ''players'' are creepy orphans with a mysterious past and terrible powers.
140	* Voice of Demnogonis in ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles''. Looks like a child, but in fact feeds on LifeEnergy.
141	* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' has "Striplings", a title given to Spectres (evil ghosts of Oblivion) who died before the age of ten and have corpuses (ghost bodies) resembling children. They exist among all of the Spectral castes (including at least one Malfean, the God-Kings of Oblivion) and form a society unto themselves. Other Spectres (even Malfeans) find them to be completely ungovernable and "creepy".
142	* The Dreamer in ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', who is an alternate timeline version of the Visionary. Unlike other villains, the goal with the Dreamer is to not hurt her, as she is an innocent child. Instead the goal is to defeat the psychic apparitions she unintentionally brings into the world.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Theatre]]
146	* In some productions, the demons/witches that deliver the misleading prophecies to ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' take this form.
147	* ''Theatre/{{Rosmersholm}}'' by Creator/HenrikIbsen. The Rosmer family has a tendency to breed children that neither laughed nor wept. And they seem to haunt the Rosmersholm estate.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
151	* At the [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights event, one of their mascot characters, Cindy Caine, is the most famous example. Creepy children doing creepy things is a recurring haunted house and scarezone theme. However, due to the events' mature focus and casting requirements, the children are often portrayed by small/[[DawsonCasting younger looking]] adults and usually wear masks or makeup.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
155	* Ilya from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Even when she's calling the hero 'Oniichan'. ''Especially'' when she's calling the hero 'Oniichan'.
156	* ''VisualNovel/FaultMilestoneOne'' has [[spoiler: the original Rune, who gets pleasure, [[EmotionlessGirl or something similar to pleasure as she's incapable of feeling emotion]], from stabbing Marcos with a tree branch and mutilating small animals]].
157	* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'':
158	** ''Higurashi'' provides the example of [[spoiler:Rika Furude, the little miko girl]] who usually serves as a DeliberatelyCuteChild but knows way too much about what has happened and what will happen, and who also possesses a rather disturbing fixation with torture and mutilation. However, this later revealed to be because she's [[spoiler:ReallySevenHundredYearsOld in mentality and often on the receiving end of the aforementioned torture and mutilation due to a GroundhogDayLoop that only she and Hanyuu are aware of]].
159	** All the members of that club are creepy at times, but the only other one in the right age category is Satoko, whose crazy moments tend to inspire more [[TheWoobie sympathy]] than fear.
160	* Inubushi Keiko, the mentally unstable serial killer from ''VisualNovel/{{Remember11}}''.
161	** Yuni also has his moments.
162	* Kakuya's mannerisms in ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'' invoke childishness, with her innocent tone and the way she speaks (referring to characters with the cutesy [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics '-chan' honorific]], and being unable to pronounce her own name). However, she's a malevolent spirit that curses the protagonist and forces him to 'play' with her, putting the lives of him and his cousin in grave danger.
163	* The sister series to ''Higurashi'', ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', features Maria, the protagonist's nine year old cousin who has a creepy fixation with the occult and a tendency to start [[EvilLaugh laughing whenever someone's murdered]]. She's much worse in the anime than in the original sound novels thanks to {{Flanderization}}. However, despite her strange behaviour she isn't actually evil, just ''very'' [[NoSocialSkills socially maladjusted]], and [[spoiler:her obsession with the occult is a way for her to cope with being bullied and her mother's [[AbusiveParents abusive treatment]]]].
164	* The children of the resort in ''Shut Your Teeth'' are strangely cynical and [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior play disturbing "games"]] with the other resort residents. Sometimes these games become fatal. [[spoiler: The children are under the thrall of a Kuman Thong, the ghost of an unborn child.]]
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Web Animation]]
168	* Little Joel from ''WebVideo/LawnJustice'' seems innocent at first, but [[spoiler:(he's actually responsible for all the destruction in the series)]]. Mommy's little hero.
169	* Vendetta from ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'' is an elementary school kid who isolates herself from the rest of the class and makes fiends to sic on anyone who makes her mad...which is everyone. Her name should give you a clue. She also speaks in a weird, gravelly voice that has what is likely a Bulgarian accent.
170	* Kari from ''WebAnimation/MariKari'' Mari's undead twin sister who murders anyone who makes her upset.
171	** Mari is unnaturally cheerful, not letting the mysterious horrible deaths of everyone who's even slightly mean to her or the general hatred and contempt seemingly everyone holds for her ever get her down.
172	* The kids from the ''VideoGame/NickelodeonClickamajigs'' game ''Black Licorice''. In the game you're supposed to give them candy but you CAN'T give them black licorice because it causes them to [[TransformationTrauma transform into horrible grotesque monsters]].
173	* The unnamed girl in the notorious Quicktime animation ''[[http://www.vansowerwine.com/installation/playwithmeint.htm Play With Me]]'' goes beyond merely creepy and right into nightmarish.
174	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CreepyChild