The House of the Head
Written By: Josh Malerman
A little girl named Evie (Cailey Fleming) shows her parents (Rachel Hendrix and David Shae) the Smithsmiths (Mother, Father, Ethan, and Dane), a family of dolls she has collected for her new dollhouse. Everything seems normal in the dollhouse, but one day, after coming home from school, Evie sees that her dolls have moved by themselves. She also notices a ghoulish severed head sitting on the living room coffee table that seemingly has real blood coming from the cut. When she turns her gaze away from the head for only a minute, she finds that it's moved onto the floor. After returning home from a movie, Evie finds that the Smithsmiths and the Head have moved again, and that Dane has somehow been let out. Discovering that the Head has yet again moved after she looks away, Evie begins thinking that her dollhouse is haunted.
The next day, Evie has her mother take her to the shop of Mr. Ogman (Guy Messenger), the toymaker who created the dollhouse, for something to protect the Smithsmiths. She ends up buying a police officer figurine, which initially explores the house's attic in search of the Head, but it soon ends up gruesomely decapitated, with what looks like real blood coming from the neck. Finding the Head in the bathroom mirror, Evie angrily tells it to stay away from the Smithsmiths and herself. She returns to Mr. Ogman's shop for "something spiritual" to try and rid herself of the Head. She ends up purchasing a Native American figurine, which searches for the Head throughout the house before it too is gruesomely decapitated.
The Head then ends up decapitating Mother and Father when Evie's mother distracts her. Evie also discovers that the Head has decapitated Ethan as well, replacing his head with itself. Furious, Evie takes the Head and throws it across her room. Realizing the grave mistake she has just made, Evie goes searching for the Head. She finds it hiding under her bed, where it has spontaneously grown to human-size. Emotionally exhausted, Evie puts the Head back in the dollhouse and closes it.
The next day, a traumatized Evie has her parents sell the dollhouse at a yard sale, which they nonchalantly guess is just the result of her growing up. As they drive away, Evie guiltily watches as a cashier opens up the house and finds the Head, back in doll form and once again on Ethan's headless body. The Head instantly turns itself around to stare at the viewers.
Following this, the Creep is seen painting the Head's figurine form, then holds up the next issue of Creepshow while laughing maniacally.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: While Evie's parents mean well, they have absolutely no idea that their daughter is trying to fight a supernatural toy by herself. As discussed below, they also keep her from stopping the Head when it's about to kill one of her dolls.
- Big "NO!": Evie gives one when she finds the Chief beheaded, and later lets out a second one when she spots the Head hiding under her bed.
- Break the Cutie: By the end of the story, Evie goes from a cheerful and imaginative little girl to a traumatized and guilt-ridden individual. Her all-black attire and silence when addressed by her parents illustrates her disillusioned state.
- Cop Killer: The Head's first victim is the police officer Evie buys to protect the Smithsmiths.
- Creepy Doll: The Head, when it's seen in doll form.
- Creepy Dollhouse: The severed head turns Evie's dollhouse into one of these. It's even eerie-looking before the Head first appears.
- Downer Ending: The Officer, the Chief, and the Smithsmiths are all beheaded. Unable to do anything to stop the Head, Evie, who has become a shell of her former self from the ordeal, is ultimately forced to give the dollhouse she loved so much away and let someone else deal with the Head.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: If the Jump Scare mentioned below is any indication, the Head is well aware that it's being watched by an audience.
- Genre Savvy: After throwing the Head out of the dollhouse in sheer anger when it finally kills all of the Smithsmiths, Evie immediately realizes this was a terrible mistake, and starts searching for it to put it back in. When she finds it, it's mysteriously grown to life-size. She very likely saved her and her parents' lives by shoving it back in the dollhouse, where it shrank back to doll-size.
- Good Parents: In spite of how oblivious they are regarding the Head, Evie's parents treasure their daughter above all else, inviting her to watch movies with them, humoring her during her playtime, and genuinely comforting her when she's scared.
- Haunted House: Evie's dollhouse, which comes with a murderous, partially decayed severed head.
- I Know You're Watching Me: After it kills the officer, the Head appears inside the house's bathroom mirror, letting Evie know that it knows she's trying to get rid of it.
- Jaw Drop: When the Head finally kills the Smithsmiths, its mouth remains open in a permanent scream.
- Jump Scare: The Head gives one at the very end of the story, turning around at lightning speed to stare at the viewers.
- Karma Houdini: Mr. Ogman, who is strongly implied to know the truth about the dollhouse, suffers no consequence for selling it to Evie.
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Lawful Neutral: While Mr. Ogman knows the truth about the house, he doesn't take a side regarding Evie's battle against the Head. As far as we know, he's only letting her take the dolls she thinks will stop it because she's a customer in his shop, and he's just doing his job. - Magical Native American: The Native American chief that Evie buys to protect the Smithsmiths does a pretty good job of holding the Head off, if only for a short while. Unfortunately, he also gets beheaded.
- The Millstone: Evie's parents, who continuously stop their daughter from taking action against the Head, and have no idea that she's even fighting it in the first place, merely thinking she's playing some imaginary game.
- Mythology Gag:
- Evie's dollhouse is a miniature replica of Carrie White's house.
- When Evie looks into the house's attic, a tiny replica of Fluffy's crate is seen inside.
- The Native American figurine that Evie brings home is a tiny replica of Old Chief Wood'nhead.
- The carpet in the house's dining room is the same as the Overlook Hotel.
- The ashtray from "Father's Day", in miniature form, can be seen on the coffee table in the dollhouse's living room. The bottle of Popov that Jordy Verrill uses to drink himself to sleep can also be seen on the table.
- The Noseless: The Head does not have a nose, as it apparently decayed off its face over time.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- For starters, there's every single flipping thing about the Head. We have no idea where it came from, what it's supposed to be, and why it's going after Evie's dolls. It's also never revealed how it's able to decapitate any figurines put inside the house, or how it's able to enlarge itself when outside of the house.
- Things also get insanely creepy when the Head isn't on screen. The scenes of Evie slowly looking over every room in the house, not knowing whether the Head could be active or where it might turn up next, are deeply nerve-rattling.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Evie's dolls, including the Head, are capable of moving throughout the house when Evie isn't watching them.
- Off with His Head!: The Head's method of choice for disposing of any figurine inside the house, complete with real blood coming from the cuts.
- Ominous Music Box Tune: An eerie music box melody can be heard in the background whenever Evie is inside Ogman's store.
- Order Versus Chaos: Like any typical little girl would, Evie keeps trying to keep things exactly how she wants them to go in her dollhouse. The appearances of the Head quickly make her dolls go against that order.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The titular Head. It can apparently move when it isn't watched, decapitates any figurine that is put inside the dollhouse, and it manages to grow to human-size when Evie ends up throwing it outside of the house.
- Parental Obliviousness: Evie's parents have no idea about their daughter's battle against the Head, thinking that she's just playing house with her dolls.
- Police Are Useless: Evie first buys a police officer doll to go after the Head. When her father distracts her, Evie finds that the officer has promptly died.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The closest thing Evie gets to a victory over the Head amounts to putting it back in the dollhouse before it could go after her family, then having her parents sell the house at a yard sale, ultimately forcing someone else to deal with it. She's also immensely guilt-ridden, traumatized, and broken by the entire ordeal, as seen by the look on her face as her parents drive the car away.
- Say My Name: Evie cries Ethan's name when she sees the Head has beheaded the poor boy and replaced his head.
- Shout-Out: In addition to the above mentioned Stephen King references, the house also contains a plethora of Easter Eggs from other movies:
- Bub's headphones can be seen in the den.
- The jack-o-lantern from the opening credits of Halloween can be seen on the kitchen counter.
- Freddy Krueger's fedora can be seen hanging on the staircase bannister, and the phone that he transforms into his mouth can be seen hanging on the kitchen wall.
- E.T's purse can also be seen hanging from the staircase banister.
- The tape recorder from The Evil Dead can be seen on the living room fireplace, and the Necronomicon can be seen on the coffee table.
- Patrick Bateman's ax, Ash Williams' boomstick, and Leatherface's chainsaw can all be seen in the house's attic.
- The Hitchhiker's camera from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre can be seen on Mother and Father's dresser.
- Inside Mr. Ogman's shop, a Raggedy Ann doll can be seen on the shelf behind the man in question. A supposedly demonically possessed Raggedy Ann known as "Annabelle" was the inspiration for the film of the same name.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Mr. Ogman tells Evie's mother that the dollhouse he sold to her is "one of a kind". The yard sale employee at the end says the exact same thing when she sees the house.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: The Head progressively becomes one of these as the scope of its activities gets larger. Evie even finds it staring back at her under her bed, its mouth now open in a permanent scream.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Evie's parents, who drag her away from the dollhouse just before the Head strikes. They don't really know what's going on, of course, but they can still be seen as a hindrance to some.
- Villain of Another Story: Mr. Ogman. We never learn what exactly he knows about the house when he sells it to Evie, but it's clear from his casual and almost experienced tone of voice when he discusses the relationship between a child and their dolls that he knows something.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Evie's father questions the Smithsmiths' family name, saying that it "sounds more like a stutter than a name."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Dane, the Smithsmiths' dog, disappears after the police officer is beheaded, and it's never revealed what exactly happened to him.
- Wicked Toymaker: Mr. Ogman is a very downplayed example. He clearly knows the truth about the dollhouse, but he doesn't actively get involved in Evie's struggle against the Head, only supplying her more dolls to stop it because she's a customer.
- Would Hurt a Child: Ethan is the Head's final victim, the appendage itself taking possession of his body afterwards.
- You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: Evie never tells her parents the truth about the Head haunting her dollhouse, largely because they would never believe her.
