History Main / CreepyDoll

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In horror, dolls are often used as part of the scenery to help establish the mood, even providing a theme for TheDollEpisode. They may even [[PerversePuppet be the antagonist]] or [[LivingDollCollector be used by the antagonist]]. Despite how ridiculous a doll trying to kill people ''should'' be, it's still seen as quite frightening. A similar idea lies behind ScaryScarecrows.

* In ''TheSecretLifeOfDolls'', it's particularly bad with [[{{Twilight}} Tonner Edward Dollen]], but at first when [[VanHelsing Anna Dollerious]] says what she thinks about getting [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/dolls/secret_life/sld_nightterrors.gif The Littlest Edward]]:

** "Talky Tina" was inspired by a real toy, "Chatty Cathy," a doll produced by Mattel beginning in 1959. June Foray, who provided the recorded voice Mattel used for Chatty Cathy, also provided CBS with the voice for Talky Tina.

* The Dresden Dolls have a song called "Coin Operated Boy" while not wholly about a doll, the boy is a life size puppet of sorts ran by dropping a quarter into it's pay slot...NightmareFuel.

* Gillen finds one of these in ''{{Monster}}'', in relation to a serial killer he is examining.

* An episode of Tactics featured a doll-maker and a house full of creepy dolls

* The episode ''Raindrops'' from ''{{Witch Hunter Robin}}''. A bunch of creepy dolls chanting "UNFORGIVABLE!" qualifies as some serious nightmare fuel.

* The anime ''{{Ghost Stories}}'' features a supernatural doll named Mary who stalks the main character Satsuki throughout episode 11. At the end of the episode the Mary doll also commands other dolls to gang up on Satsuki and attempt to kill her all while singing a song about how they plan to do so.

* "Scarface," the leering, knife-scored dummy that is an alter ego/tormentor of ''Batman'' villain 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 of course one of the smartest and most rational men on the planet - ''had to convince himself that the doll wasn't really alive''.

* ''Reincarnation'' (aka ''{{Rinne}}'') features one of the creepiest damn ones you may ever see.

* The movie DeadSilence is a good example of how creepy a doll can really be even when NOT possessed by evil spirits hell-bent on ripping out your tongue and making you into part of it's collection.

** He also wrote ''The Monkey'', about a doll-like toy whose clanging on it's cymbals signals someone's death. [[FridgeHorror Even if you]] [[ClingyMacGuffin throw it away]].

* The doll that started off the [[GottaCatchEmAll merry cursed antique hunt]] of ''FridayThe13thTheSeries'' even had a name: Vita. She talks, she kills, she has telekinetic powers!

* An episode of ''Ghost Hunters'' had the team visit a woman who claimed her house was haunted. Among other things, she said that the ghost made her doll "perform" for her (something like the face moving). The team recorded the doll, but thank God nothing actually happened. One of the crew members was visibly relieved he didn't have to witness anything.

* The Dresden Doll's have a song called "Coin Operated Boy" while not wholly about a doll, the boy is a life size puppet of sorts ran by dropping a quarter into it's pay slot...NightmareFuel.

* In the Christmas Special episode of Billy and Mandy, in the room full of defective equipment there is "a creepy doll whose eyes follow you around the room." After it's introduced it's eyes fall out and roll across the floor.

* ''Clock Tower: The First Fear'' has a room full of beat up dolls. One gives you a key. After that, another will attack you.

** That's probably Dexter The Bear, a stuffed Bear that gives you the ability to kill other sims with either a knife, a poker, or a hammer. The hammer let's you kill toddlers too, which gives way to the creepy toddler behaviors. That is, when Dexter worked properly and didn't crashed the game.

* There is a mod in ''Unreal Tournament'' called ''[=Unreal4Ever=]'', which has a doll for a weapon. When used, the doll skips around a map making doll-like noises, until an unlucky victim comes too close and detonates the doll, causing a nuclear explosion. Just imagine being chased by a seemingly harmless doll that's really out to kill you.

* Used very subtly in ''Half-Life 2''. They're never in plain sight, but if you go out of your way to poke through the trash or explore the abandoned playgrounds, you can find normal children's dolls... in ruins. Missing an arm. Missing an EYE. Covered in something black. Very creepy.
* One of the hidden-object search scenes in ''Return to Ravenhearst'' consists of dozens of creepy, damaged dolls arranged on shelves.
* ''{{Onimusha}}'' has Ayame, a demonic,AxCrazy Genma-doll which will randomly appear in the castle and will try to slash you to pieces with her gigantic claws. Also fiendish puppets and dolls will appear hidden in some chests in Onimusha 3. They'll leave behind the object they're guarding when defeated.

* ''ResidentEvil'' Had a few moments with creepy dolls:
** First with ''[[ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code Veronica]]'' (and its remake level in ''[[ResidentEvilDarksideChronicles Darkside Chronicles]]'') In which you travel through a house of dolls, filled with Zombies, Bats, Bandersnatches, oh and least I forget, little dolls and a giant suspended doll, all of which are modeled after the games main antagonist Alexia Ashford. Plus there is also [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyNaHHpmxI the music]], and gets its worse in the games remake in ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf587zCG2ec Darkside Chronicles]]''.
** And there was also the ''ResidentEvil4'' prototype, which featured Leon going through a castle owned by Umbrella (at least we assume) that is... weirdly enough haunted with hook-wielding ghost demonic dolls and tentacles in a black mist. It was as if he made a wrong turn at Raccoon City and went to SilentHill. (Damn it wold have been scary, unlike RE4 and RE5)

The creepiness of dolls stems from the [[UncannyValley]].

-- JonathanCoulton, "Creepy Doll"

* ''{{Bleach}}'': In his released form, Szayel has the ability to create a small voodoo doll that has his enemy's likeness. Any damage done to the dolls' internal organs, accessed by taking the doll apart (which doesn't happen to the original) removing the organs and then crushing them, is done to the original, debilitating them from the inside. The doll's exterior has some effect on the victim as well, as seen when Ishida felt Szayel scratch and flick his doll's face. And Szayel later makes a voodoo doll of Mayuri who is pretty creepy himself... [[spoiler: but Mayuri is so CrazyPrepared that he manages to out gambit Szayel.]]

* ''{{Okami}}'' has some of these in the Sunken Ship dungeon. They aren't exactly creepy on their own righ, but combined with the surroundings, occasional chest-monsters and the sound world that at first makes them seem like they're laughing at you, we can't really blame you if you feel like Power Slashing them, just to be sure.

* The marionettes used in the OP of the Chilean SoapOpera [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF6wKNJQGwI "Los T�teres"]]. [[UncannyValley Brrrrr!]]
** The lyrics of the song skyrocket it into High Octane Nightmare Fuel: "You are not owner of your life/We are puppets and nothing else/Our threads are the fate/Which moves us at its will"...

* ''HauntingGrounds'' has a room full of it, and is, in fact, a puzzle. Doing this incorrectly will prompt spikes coming out of the dolls to give you a game over.

* TruthinTelevision moment about these things, it turns out according to one [[http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/12/dead-or-alive-the-eyes-hold-the-.html?ref=hp "study"]] we perceive what is alive and what is inanimate by the look of the face and eyes more then anything else, so now we know the human truth..dolls are just freaky soulless things! [[/folder]]

* The 1987 movie ''Dolls''.

* As you can see at the top of the page, JonathanCoulton has a song about this very trope. In fact it's the TropeNamer.

* {{Voltaire}}'s Creepy Doll song -- just listen to the lyrics.