Creepy Child: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* One [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNDkTbadF3E cellphone commercial] played with this trope, featuring loads of Creepy Children (including a pair of white-kneesocks-wearing twin girls sing-songing, "We want a cellphone"). It ended with a message to parents that they shouldn't be scared to buy cellphones for their kids, although if you had kids like that, wouldn't ''you'' be wary about giving them what they want?

* The early "Dead Zone" ads for Verizon featured pairs of creepy siblings (two brothers in dress attire and [[The Shining|twin girls in blue dresses]]).

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dXRsnWGkUs This nerf gun commercial] featuring a young Devon Sawa.

 

* [[The Sociopath|Alois]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Trancy]] of [[Black Butler]]. He's around fourteen years old in the series proper- he alternates between [[Tastes Like Diabetes|a sweet, innocent persona]], an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Laughing Mad|maniac]] who [[Eye Scream|gouges his servant's eye out for looking at him]], and a young male version of [[The Vamp]]. He wasn't much better as a younger child, either.

{{quote|Everyone, everything, annihilated! }}

** The Amazons Quartet. It is not known how old they really are, probably not older than 13-14, but they tend to act very childish and apparently find battles against the Sailor Team "fun". Yet, their tactics aren't anywhere near innocent.

*** Anime!PallaPalla is an extreme example. More often than not, she's a [[Third Person Person]] [[Bratty Half-Pint]] who often cries, throws tantrums, and demands to be entertained by her "sisters"/teammates. Then comes the episode with the dental clinic, where she declares that the best way to cure cavities is to rip the head off (which she demonstrates on a doll, creeping the fuck outta the other girls). Then the episode where she controls the senshi using an enchanted doll to make them repeat the doll's movements, and then she nearly tears said doll apart by its hands. And we also have the episode where she attacks ''dozens'' of people, rips out their Dream Mirrors, and then cheerfully claps and sings ''Where, oh were is the Golden Mirror ~ '' before Moon and Chibimoon's arrival.

* When she was no older than 12, [[Mafia Princess|Silvana Greone]] aka ''Intoccabile'' from ''[[Noir]]'' scared the crap out of a pre-teen Mireille Bouquet when they played together, due to her unhealthy fixation with pointy objects. By the time she's in her 20's, she's a full-blown [[Dark Action Girl]] and ''still'' a thoroughly creepy [[Magnificent Bitch]].

* In the movie ''[[Pokémon 3]]: Spell of the Unown'', Mii/Molly is a seemingly 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.}}

* {{spoiler|The Emperor}} becomes one of these for a short while in [[Houshin Engi]]. Blame Dakki's influence and experiments, but {{spoiler|he's}} pretty damn creepy as a kid. Doesn't help {{spoiler|he's}} also been turned into a superhuman weapon.

 

* Lenore from ''[[Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl]]''.

* Innocence (AKA the Child) is part of a malevolent and extremely powerful living tarot arcanum called The Basanos in the ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'' comic book. She takes the form of a young, barefoot blonde girl and appears most often as their spokesperson. Her power is the ability to make people "see the world with fresh eyes" - that is, in a harsh light without illusions, delusions, or rose-colored glasses. As an added bonus, this power is exhibited as she walks down a seedy avenue in Amsterdam's Red Light district, causing everyone from hookers to cops to street people to come subtly repulsed at what they're doing.

* Valeria "Val" Richards, daughter of [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed Richards]]. She has [[Teen Genius|genius level intelligence]] [[Child Prodigy|at just 2 years old.]]

* Ariel Chylde in ''Manga Darkchyle'' isn't stoic and her voice isn't a harsh monotone. Adults find her creepy because at roughly 12 years old she's smarter than most of them and she reacts to literally everything with open hostility and condescension.

* In some incarnations, [[Batman]], particularly [[Orphan's Ordeal|after his parents' death]]. As an adult, he is also sometimes confronted by creepy children [[Irony|who killed their parents]].

** And Damian Wayne, who first appears around age eight and attempts to murder the current Robin so he can take his place. A result of being raised by crazy ninjas, and also possibly the combination of Al Ghul and Wayne genes. Living with Bruce helped somewhat, but it's actually Dick Grayson who's really helped him into a solid [[Heel Face Turn]].

* Gail Simone's run on ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' had the Crows, five immortal beings disguised as school children who brew up paranoia and hatred in D.C. both naturally (through the distribution of hate literature and phony terrorist threats) and supernaturally (through a [[Hate Plague]]) {{spoiler|as revenge against Diana for the death of their father, Ares.}}

 

{{quote|"Everybody's going to die. Just not now."}}

* In a relatively popular ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' fanfiction known as ''[http://percyjacksonfanfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Whispers_in_the_Dark Whispers in the Dark]'', the main character Taylor definitely qualifies. She's 4, and she knows more curse words than the average 10-year-old. Let that sink in for a minute.

* In [[Cori Falls]]'s fanfiction ''Where Angels Dare to Tread'', baby!James was supposed to come as [[Wise Beyond Their Years|Wise Beyond His Six Months]], but looks like this instead. Seriously, '''which''' baby deliberately cries in his christening and then looks all "I did it to screw my parents's plans for me!"?

* So very many Super!Harry ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics, a result of trying to get him off to a good [[Fix Fic|fixit]] start while following the books' timeline. Often due to time travel, but also to various weird upbringings and instances of becoming a [[Child Prodigy]]. Both [[Lampshaded]] and not.

* The child characters in ''[[Hogwarts Exposed]]'' are deeply, deeply unsettling without exception. Everyone in the fic falls into the [[Uncanny Valley]] of human behaviour, but the children get it especially bad because on top of that they're all sexually precocious and [[Little Professor Dialogue|talk like adults]]. The only concession to characterising them as children is to give the toddler an inconsistent speech impediment.

 

* Cole, early in ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'', is one of the most well-known examples of this trope.

* The Grady daughters from ''[[The Shining]]'' are also a famous example of this trope.

''She told me she’d seen

''A man in her dream

 

* Cornelia Vermeer in ''Girl With A Pearl Earring'' is six years old and a member of the family who Griet goes to work for. She has red curly hair which seems to highlight her fiery and rebellious personality. Indeed, out of all the Vermeer children, Cornelia is the most mischievous and doesn't always respect her elders. In fact, she is downright cruel to Griet and causes all sorts of trouble for her, including stealing her possessions, breaking a treasured family heirloom that Griet's father gave to her, spying on Griet's interactions with Johannes (Cornelia's father and Griet's employer), and tattling on Griet to her mother Catharina (lying by saying that Griet stole Catharina's comb, Griet's been getting too friendly with Johannes) and all the while she puts up a sweet appearance, pretending like she's a innocent little girl in order to deceive everybody. Griet rightfully calls her out on this a few times, and slaps her twice for her maliciousness.

* ''[[The Midwich Cuckoos]]'', adapted into the film ''[[Village of the Damned]]''.

** Alia is also notable for being one of the few instances where we get to see what happens when the Creepy Child goes through puberty and then grows up. Needless to say, [[Tear Jerker|it turns out quite tragic]].

** In the [[David Lynch]] film, she was played by Alicia Roanne Witt, who had received a considerable amount of media attention at the age of three for her 200+ IQ.

** Apparently he also killed a fellow orphan's pet rabbit and hung it up where the boy would find it. The orphanage was not presumably a nice place to be—tight budget, overcrowding, lack of emotional nourishment or adult support of any kind—but doesn't seem to have been an [[Orphanage of Fear]] except for persons Riddle selected for his retribution.

** In addition to some interesting scheming as a later teenager—beyond, well, the Chamber of Secrets and all (and getting a more or less innocent classmate punished for it, knowing he'd be an easy suspect due to his half-giant heritage) we also see him [[Teens Are Monsters|charming his way into a teacher's favour and exploiting him for secrets]] in a way that is creepier than usual for a budding Dark Lord. And the movie cranked it up to eleven. Lil' Tom was all the time leaning on the Uncanny Valley.

* ''[[Pet Sematary]]''. Ye gods. Because normal creepy kids aren't enough for [[Stephen King]], they have to be ''psycho zombie'' creepy kids.

* [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s novella ''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' involves a creepy child who appears to grow supernaturally quickly. By twelve, he is approximately seven feet tall, is badly in need of a shave, and has completely adult proportions. {{spoiler|Of course, this is nothing compared to his brother}}.

*** She's still at it later in life, although she's mostly learned to control it for her own ends.

* Starting in ''Eldest'', ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' has Elva. As a result of his [[Blessed with Suck|"blessing"]], Eragon causes a one-year-old infant to mutate into a six-year-old who speaks with the voice of a world-weary adult and has [[Purple Eyes]], becoming the [[The Empath|empathic]] Elva. The other characters get really, really creeped out just hearing her speak.

* Willie Connolly in J.R. Lowell's ''Daughter of Darkness''. She's such a perfect, ''perfect'' little girl... and such a nice high IQ too! Her dad must be awful proud... gee, isn't it too bad her mommy killed herself? Aw, isn't that cute, she collects dolls....

 

* Two of the creepiest girls ever seen on TV were in the ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' episode "Killerz," which was Green's second case. The older one had a strange look and behaved in a way that just seemed off, however she was innocent and the way she acted made sense after you found out what her little friend had done. The younger girl at first seemed like a [[Cheerful Child]] that was better adjusted then the older one, however it turned out she [[Does Not Like Men]] and was a sociopathic [[Serial Killer]] of little boys. What makes her especially scary is that despite Dr. Skoda's diagnosis Dr. Olivet actually defended the [[Enfant Terrible]] and was able to get her off. As she was leaving we see the murderess eyeing her next victim: a very scared little boy.

** In the first episode of the series's ninth season (and the debut one of Angie Harmon as Abby Carmichael), a rich couple's 7-year-old ''very'' disturbed adoptive kid was accused of killing his also adoptive baby sister. {{spoiler|He didn't.}}

** In the episode {{spoiler|"In Name And Blood (In Birth And Death)"}}, there was this very creepily quiet named David. {{spoiler|His [[Complete Monster]] of a [[Hot Dad]] was a [[Serial Killer]] of women [[Moral Event Horizon|who actually *forced the kid* to help him lure his victims inside his home and crime scene]].}} No wonder the kid was fucked up as Hell.

 

* The video to Portishead's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vozNQX6Ye1A All Mine]" features an extremely [[Uncanny Valley|unnerving]] little girl lipsyncing the song.

* Alice Cooper's song "Years Ago" is supposedly narrated by Steven, a lost child who only does monotone. the song is set to a species of [[Creepy Circus Music]].

* All of the children in the [[Vocaloid]] song [http://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 [[Orphanage of Fear]] and have been horrifically experimented on in order for some [[Mad Scientist]]s to (successfully) discover the secret to [[Immortality Immorality|immortality]]. Said scientists would force the children to play the Japanese children's game [[Deadly Game|"Kagome, Kagome"]] and then [[An Arm and a Leg|cut off]] [[Neck Snap|a]] [[Off with His Head|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 [[Nightmare Fuel]] all the same.

 

* The [[Old World of Darkness]] game ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' 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".

* 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.

* Younger Fetch Children in ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' (basically the better of the two results of a [[Evil Twin|Fetch]] successfully conceiving a baby) are explicitly mentioned as being slightly autistic, which gets ''really spooky'' when [[Glamour Failure|they start asking about a Changeling's Mien]] and open gates to [[Eldritch Location|the Hedge]] by being in the general area. [[The Charmer|They get better, though]], and what's more, [[Holy Hand Grenade|they're inherent weapons against the True Fae]]. Thus, if you see a Fetch Child, keep him alive, [[Enfante Terrible|and breathe a sigh of relief that he wasn't a Fetch Spawn.]]

 

* In some productions, the demons/witches that deliver the misleading prophecies to ''[[Macbeth]]'' take this form.

 

* Alma Wade isn't the villain of a video game named ''FEAR'' for nothing. Every... single... time she appears... is so creepy it'll make you scream and jump. And you can't shoot her, since she's a freaking ghost!! And it gets worse when she grows up...

* Pink Queen from ''[[Advance Wars: Eternal War]]'', though she's more around 16-ish. Flash, too. he has a ship made out of guns.

* Gary from [[Bully (video game)|Bully]] is a tad old, but he fits pretty well in a more comedic sense. I mean, yeah, he's a sociopath, but he just loves being a sociopath so much that you can't help but laugh with him. Well, {{spoiler|until he's caused the entire school to become a warzone and strips you of all your allies. Because A) He's crazy and B) He knows your a threat.}} But still, he's so fun when off his medication.

 

* Ilya from ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. Even when she's calling the hero 'Oniichan'. ''Especially'' when she's calling the hero 'Oniichan'.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' provides the example of {{spoiler|Rika Furude, the little miko girl}} who usually serves as a [[Deliberately Cute Child]] 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.

** Yuni also has his moments.

 

* 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 [[Nightmare Fuel]].

* On a similar note the kids from the Nick.com clickamajig ''Black Licorice'' also suit this trope. In the game you're supposed to give them candy but you CAN'T give them black licorice because it causes them to [[Transformation Trauma|transform into horrible grotesque monsters]].

** 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.

 

* {{spoiler|Pandora}} is introduced in this form in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''. She's notably somewhat an aversion since her form changes to fit her mood, so she only looks like a child when she's being playful and mischevious. {{spoiler|She's a lot creepier when she's pissed.}}

* Zimmy from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' starts off as an over-the-top creep: she's verbally combative towards the protagonists, her science fair entry is [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=77 "an abomination"], she seems to have [[Black Eyes of Evil|no eyes]], and a body-snatching demon is afraid of her. This gets thrown on its head in a later chapter, when {{spoiler|the revelation that she's been [[Blessed with Suck]] turns her into a sympathetic character. Which gets flipped on its head ''again'', with the revelation of [[Love Makes You Evil|how Zimmy treats her best friend and why]].}}

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209182325/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2346 the agents] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165625/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2347 of the] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165927/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2348 secret sisterhood.]

 

* ''[[Ben Drowned]]'': Ben thinks you shouldn't have put him here...

* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'':

* The ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWBNCnU_PK0 "My Little Step Children]" sketch is a [[Parody Commercial]] features kids pretending to be a doll's [[Wicked Stepmother|Wicked Stepparent]]. Some of the comments assert that children actually play with dolls that way.

 

*** Actually, they have been confirmed to have individual names, and Lenny was only referred to by name because he split up from the others in one episode, but he joined back with them later. Which brings us to the next thing: They are always bunched up in the exact same position. And in the previously mentioned episode, when Lenny joined back with the others, he just slides into his spot while a creepy, morphing sound plays. Ugh.

* Darla from ''[[Cats Don't Dance]]'' who hides a psychopathic personality behind a sickeningly sweet child-like facade.

** Creepier than all of that together is her display of love for her brother:

{{quote|'''Azula:''' ''(singsong voice)'' Daddy's gonna kill you! ''(normal voice)'' Really, he is.}}

* One episode of ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'', "Aye-Aye Eyes", features Dexter returning a creepy looking rag-doll bunny to an even creepier looking doe-eyed little girl who then follows him around everywhere. He eventually gets rid of her by hooking her up with a creepy doe-eyed boy.

* Gaz of ''[[Invader Zim]]'' is a morbid, vindictive little girl with supernatural powers and prowess who plunges people into nightmare worlds from which there is no waking if they dare interfere with her pizza or her videogames. Not even her brother is immune. Her ''father'' is, though.

** Then there's Nergal Jr. Nergal Jr is able to turn into almost anything and is extremely creepy. His true form (although it's rarely seen) is very horrid to see.

* ''[[South Park]]'' has a few, including Kenny. Then there's Damien from the episode ''Damien'' - after all he's Satan's kid.

* Brittany Taylor the cheerleader's little brother Brian from ''[[Daria]]'' he's a mean hyperactive brat who throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants, the creepy thing about him is in the episode with the lab rats Brittany steals Daria's and gives the rat to him he rubs his hands together and laughs wickedly the next time we see the rat it's huddled in a corner and trembling, the guide book states that he's killed every pet that the family ever owned to the point where they stop bothering to name them.

* [[Steven Universe]] gives us Onion, an unnerving, silent little youngster who tends to cause a lot of trouble around Beach City. In one episode he went on a rampage around the city with Pearl's replicator, and made several attempts on both the Crystal Gems and Greg's lives all with an eerily calm look on his face. The fact that he [[Ambiguously Human|doesn't look ''quite'' human]] certainly ramps up the creepy factor for some.

 

** ''[[That Guy With The Glasses]]'': "I ALWAYS KNEW THAT SHE WAS [[Twilight (novel)|A VAMPIRE!]] [[No Indoor Voice|SHE ACTED LIKE SHE WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD WHEN SHE WAS FIVE!]]"

* The "if you hit me at 30mph" spiel from the ubiquitous UK [[Public Service Announcement]] would [[Scare'Em Straight|make you think]] regardless of who said it, but one suspects the young voice-over artist they used (more than a bit reminiscent of "[[Doctor Who|Are you my mummy?]]") could probably give people nightmares by singing "Old McDonald had a Farm".

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Youngsters]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Dysfunctional Family Tropes]]

[[Category:Rule of Creepy]]