History Main / CreepyDoll

* ''Film/{{Reincarnation}}'' (a.k.a. ''Rinne'') features one of the creepiest damn ones you may ever see. Parodied in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhOhergl8GM fake French commercial]] under the brand of "Dolls Klaus Barbie". At that time, Klaus Barbie was a former Nazi being tried for crimes against humanity.

* One of V's targets in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' has a huge doll collection. When V abducts the man, the punishment he devises for the ex-concentration camp official is to populate a mock concentration camp with the dolls, and send them all to the ovens. It successfully breaks the man's mind, and the effect on the reader of all those [[UncannyValley dolls burning]] is none too pleasant either...
* "Scarface," the leering, knife-scored dummy that is an alter ego/tormentor of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGalleryPart2 The Ventriloquist]]. He's particularly horrifying in scenes where he isn't being operated and his mouth's not moving, but the psychotic Ventriloquist ''still imagines that the puppet is talking to him''! An especially effective scene occurred in the animated "origin" episode "Read My Lips," where Batman - who is one of the smartest and most rational men on the planet - ''had to convince himself that the doll wasn't really alive''.

* Billy, the ventriloquist doll that Jigsaw uses as his mouthpiece in the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies.

* The ventriloquist's dummy in the 1978 film, ''Film/{{Magic}}''.

* The granddaddy of them all, the British film ''Film/DeadOfNight''. Creator/MichaelRedgrave is a ventriloquist who is having a nervous breakdown and thinks his dummy is going to abandon him for another performer. He even attempts murder to keep him. [[spoiler: In another man's psychotic breakdown the doll gets up and attempts to strangle him.]] This movie was the direct inspiration for ''Devil Doll'', ''Magic'' and the ''Twilight Zone'' episode with Cliff Robertson.
* ''Film/DevilDoll'' (best seen on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'') in which the dummy is actually possessed by the spirit of a man and can walk around and demand ham.

** There was also a creepy ventriloquist's dummy in the episode "The Dummy" (which was arguably an inspiration for the 1978 Creator/AnthonyHopkins film, ''Magic''.)

** In another episode, Jerry and Kramer switch apartments. One of the things in Kramer's apartment that disturbed Jerry the most was a ventriloquist dummy Kramer referred to as "Mr. Marbles."
---> '''Jerry:''' You gotta get rid of this thing! I keep thinking it's gonna come to life at night and kill me!

** Two episodes later, a banquet hall is filled with living, laughing ventriloquist dummies. "Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!"

* The first boss in ''VideoGame/PuLiRuLa'' is a ventriloquist with a living dummy. He and the dummy look silly enough, but as soon as the ventriloquist is beaten (and becomes a parrot again) the dummy shows a demonic face and runs off with the time key the ventriloquist was in the process of stealing. He's confronted as the second-to-last boss and goes all out on his demonic look with wild eyes, unkempt hair, and claws on both hands and feet. Upon defeat, he turns out to have been a monkey all along.

[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dolls_2643.jpg]]

* [=YouTuber=] {{WebVideo/Grav3yardgirl}} collects creepy antique dolls, but one case, an eerily humanlike cloth doll she dubbed Robertina in reference to Robert the Doll, seemed to be haunted, giving her extreme anxiety and having a history of returns. It wound up in a creepy museum after she too give it up, and it probably doesn't help that it was theorized to be a stand-in for a deceased child, wearing their clothes.

* The Clown Doll from ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}''. For the first half of the movie, it just sits on a rocking chair, doing nothing. Then it disappears....

** To be more specific: How they (that is, the string-operated ones) normally work is that pulling on the string winds up an internal clock spring, which when released causes a miniature record disc to revolve at a certain speed. Trouble is, they usually play back too fast, resulting in a screechy, garbled voice that you can only avoid by manually holding the string back. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4N1x0bQ_V4 Case in point]].

** The string-operated ones actually get ''creepier'' as they age due to a quirk of their design. How they normally work is that pulling on the string winds up an internal clock spring, which when released causes a miniature record disc to revolve at a certain speed. When these dolls start getting on in years and their internal mechanisms deteriorate, the system regulating the speed of the record playback is often one of the first things to go (if there even was one to begin with); this often results in the record playing back too fast, resulting in a screechy and garbled voice, or too slow, resulting in a deeper, almost demonic voice. (The latter can be achieved even in a perfectly-functional doll, by manually holding back the string so it reels in slower.) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4N1x0bQ_V4 Case in point]].

* The Tails Doll from ''VideoGame/SonicR'' made an appearance in ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', being guarded by Cream the Rabbit. In the issue prior to the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' crossover, Team Freedom discovered its true identity as a Badnik and moved to attack it - only for it to transform into a MechanicalAbomination. The fight was cut off just after its transformation by the Genesis Wave that started the ''Mega Man'' crossover, and since the reboot at the end of that arc, [[AbortedArc hasn't been revisited]].

** Also, more than one MonsterOfTheWeek, such as Murido, a sweet dream princess that is a youma under her cute face.

** Also, more than one MonsterOfTheWeek. [[http://youtu.be/cRdthPO959A?t=1m31s i.e., Murido, this sweet dream princess that is a youma under her cute face.]]

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'':

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Chachazero, who doubles as a sort of [[GreekChorus evil peanut gallery.]]

* In ''FanFic/AeonNatumEngel'', the cultist suffers a nightmare, where she hears a sobbing of a little girl. When she reaches the source, she finds five dolls, a large one and four smaller ones, laying broken before the large one. And then the larger doll starts screaming while sinking into the void. ItMakesSenseInContext. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Too much sense]].

* In ''FanFic/HorseshoesAndHandGrenades'', its side story ''Month of Sundays'' has [[FauxAffablyEvil Damballa]] a Serpent who transforms people into creepy dolls. The people he transforms? [[spoiler: ''Kamen Riders''. He's made Shotaro into a marionette with nails for teeth and Haruto into a cloth doll with gold button eyes. He then transforms Eiji into a porcelain doll before sending them off to be killed by the Cosmic Hunting Dogs.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'''s gotten in on this trope with a few character designs.

* [=YouTuber=] {{WebVideo/Grav3yardgirl}} collects creepy antique dolls, but one case, an eerily humanlike cloth doll she dubbed Robertina in reference to Robert the Doll, seemed to be haunted, giving her extreme anxiety and having a history of returns. It wound up in a creepy museum after she too give it up, and it probably doesn't help that it was theorized to be a stand-in for a deceased child, wearing their clothes.

* In ''Manga/NaruTaru'', [[DudeLooksLikeaLady Norio Koga]]'s hobby is creating dolls and puppets based on [[{{mon}} shadow dragons]], and Needless to say, they're all kind of creepy. The creepiest of them all is a certain doll that's found hanging on the wall of Norio's best friend and UnrequitedLove Takeo's house... [[spoiler: '''with [[OffWithHisHead poor Norio's own head]] [[DeadGuyOnDisplay mounted on it]]'''. Needless to say, [[HeroicBSOD neither Takeo not Shiina's parents take the discovery well]].]]

* The Tails Doll from ''VideoGame/SonicR'' made an appearance in ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', being guarded by Cream the Rabbit. The issue prior to the Megaman crossover, Team Freedom discovered its true identity as a Badnik and moved to attack it - only for it to transform into an EldritchAbomination. The fight was cut off just after its transformation by the Genesis Wave that started the Megaman crossover, and since the reboot at the end of that arc, [[AbortedArc hasn't been revisited.]]

* ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Brawl Doll is an unsettling doll that is fought in a haunted mansion. Its {{putto}}-like appearance with big blue eyes and star-shaped halo underscore by contrast its mechanical mouth, eerie laugh, and of course hostile nature.

* The Brawl Doll, a boss from ''VideoGame/WarioWorld''.

* Billy, the harlequin doll that Jigsaw uses as his mouthpiece in the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies.

* The doll that the Other Mother frequently remakes in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}''. All of the Other people invoke this themselves, with their creepy button eyes.