Maybe this thread belongs in Cafe Society, since it mostly concerns movies (and video games,) but it seems like something that probably has roots in some kind of folk culture, so it might belong here too. Mods, it’s your call.
Anyway, the question: what is the origin of the “evil, scary little girl” thing? You know the one I mean. I absolutely loathe the whole cliche, I’m sick of seeing it in horror movies, I don’t find little girls to be scary at all, and I wrote a whole essay about it on my website which you can feel free to read if you have the time or the interest. But that’s beside the point - what I am wondering is, WHERE did this device originate?
I’ll list some of the movies I’m talking about: Ring. Ring II. Dark Water. Grudge. Amityville Horror. The video game FEAR and apparently the upcoming Bioshock.
It seems to be a Japanese thing. It certainly doesn’t appear in many American horror movies - Americans seem to prefer slashers. We like Freddy Krueger, Jason, Leatherface, and other large, intimidating, violent male villains in our horror films. But the Japanese seem to be more into ghosts and other supernatural spooks. Is there some kind of ancient Japanese folk tradition that involves evil little girls with big vacant eyes that is the ancestor of this staple of modern horror?
I know there were the two creepy girls in the Shining movie and there was an old English movie that had creepy school children who were psychics or something (it was B&W can’t remember the name). In the Omen there was a creepy boy, and from there derivative writers could come up with a creepy little girl for an exciting twist.
I think its effect comes from tapping finding something sinister in something that is supposed to be wholesome and sweet. I agree with you, whatever creepiness the image ever had is officially played out.
There’s also Children of the Corn though that film isn’t as old as others mentioned.
From searching about a bit on Wikipedia I found an article on Yūrei which are Japanese ghosts that are often depicted as wearing white robes with long black hair and lifeless dangling limbs. The article links to another page on the Zashiki-warashi which are the ghosts of children in Japanese culture. I doubt that they are the inspiration for such movies however as they are thought to bring good fortune to the homes they haunt.
I think at some point, people just got used to scary stories with big, ugly, scary-looking men, or gory, wailing corpses, or whatnot as the monster. It became predictable and trite. So (probably in several independent instances), people got an idea: wouldn’t it be really freaking scary if the monster was someone you would never expect? And what could be worse than a monster who appeared harmless and vulnerable, a monster you would welcome into your home and try to protect? And what appears more harmless and vulnerable than a little girl?
The earliest instance I can think of is The Turn of the Screw, though a lot of that is ambiguous - the kids might be totally innocent.
The definitive case is The Bad Seed. The girl couldn’t be more stereotypically adorable - blond braids, knee socks and all.
Now, little brunette girls with hair hanging in their faces, who travel by eerie jump-cut - that seems to be a Japanese thing.
I don’t think that’s entirely it, because a lot of the newer scary girls are repulsive - the girl from the Ring series is a walking bag of old asparagus - and the girl from Children of the Corn may not look repulsive, but her mannerisms and the way they frame her in the movie are creepy from the beginning.
Tons of horror movie villains are getting revenge for something that happened to them, or grew up in a twisted society, but I think an evil little girl or boy suggests a really basic, complete evil, evil that has taken over before even basic childhood assumptions about the world have set in.
The It’s Alive series, especially the first one (one of my favorite horror movies, but all of the sequels are really good too) does this really well with the evil killer baby. It also reaches for the opposite - characters that try to take pity on and trust a disgusting, murderous infant.
Part of what makes Jason or leatherface scary is they can’t be reasoned with or even understood, their motive don’t make sense. Children can be made to fit this profile easily.
I came into this thread thinking of Bioshock. The designer says in the video that you can either kill them or help/exploit them. I think we know what the initial reaction will be.
Wednesday Addams is really not scary at all. I remember thinking she was cute when I was a kid.
She still looks freaky from the first time you see her. The hair in front of the face, dark-ringed eyes, monotone voice, pale skin, etc. Not exactly someone you’d love to hug.
I’m surprised that nobody has yet mentioned The Exorcist or Poltergeist. I’m sure they weren’t the first, but they seem to have been the movies which firmly established the cliche in the mainstream of American movies.
Ask her if she’s seen It’s Alive. Seriously, most underrated b-movie. Larry Cohen is amaaazing.
Also: Good point, outlierrn. Spot-on, except that I would make the addition that creepy kids have the edge on monsters, because they can be both monstrous and completely human (and even really cute).