This week brings the release of two horror movies featuring kids discovering supernatural powers and struggling against darker impulses. Blumhouse takes on a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter, and Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents introduces an original, unsettling group of gifted children exploring morality. Both inspire this week’s streaming picks featuring horror movies centered around some very creepy kids.
From killer kids to ghostly youths, these five titles might make you ward off children altogether. As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
The Brood – Criterion Channel, HBO Max
Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) is in the midst of an embittered separation process from his estranged wife Nola (Samantha Eggar), a disturbed woman currently undergoing experimental therapy. Her psychotherapist, Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed), has developed a unique process that allows his patients to let go of their suppressed emotions via physical manifestations on their body, weird growths, and skin anomalies. That means Nola channels her rage into a brood of psychically manifested children, who then act on her fury through murder. It’s visceral body horror meets genuine family tragedy and drama. With a new David Cronenberg body horror movie on the way, now’s a perfect time to watch this one.
The Orphanage – Kanopy
As an adult, Laura returns to the closed orphanage where she grew up with plans to reopen it as a center for disabled children. But when her HIV-positive son learns he’s adopted and goes missing soon after, strange things begin happening within the expansive orphanage. Laura’s former friends from childhood may never have left at all. It’s creepy, moving, and takes a few unexpected turns in terms of plot. Kids in horror are creepy, but kid ghosts? Even creepier. But be sure to have tissues on standby for this one.
The Ring – Netflix, Paramount+, Pluto TV
When Rachel Keller digs into the cursed videotape that first affected her niece, then herself, she discovers the haunted presence of Samara. Rachel does what most would do in a traditional ghost story; uncover the truth behind the haunting presence and put the angry spirit to rest. In this case, it’s Samara, a creepy little girl with insomnia issues and psychic abilities. But Samara isn’t just an average ghost on a quest for vengeance. She’s pure, unrelenting evil. You could even argue that Rachel’s son qualifies as a creepy kid. Either way, Gore Verbinski’s remake brings the chills.
Salem’s Lot (1979) – Tubi
Sometimes a kid doesn’t even have to be a main antagonist or character to elicit chills in horror. They only need one memorable scare to enter the pop culture collective of terror. Such is the case of Ralphie Glick, a child kidnapped and offered up to vampire Kurt Barlow. Little Ralphie, in turn, lures his older brother Danny to his vampiric demise, and it’s how he does it that’s so memorable. Ralphie taps at Danny’s bedroom window, an unnatural grin as he hovers in the air. It’s so creepy. Bonus: Watch this Tobe Hooper gem ahead of the upcoming new adaptation.
Them – Criterion Channel, Freevee, Vudu
Them, also known as Ils, predates the more well-known The Strangers by two years yet rivals it in terms of bone-chilling suspense from start to finish. Lucas and Clementine live quietly alone in their rural countryside home. Their peaceful existence gets shattered one night by the arrival of hooded assailants that begin to terrorize them throughout the evening. This French-Romanian home invasion movie brings intensity and nail-biting tension. How creepy kids enter the equation is even more unnerving. While touted to be “based on a true story,” it also rivals The Strangers in its unsettling one-liner regarding the killers’ motivation.
The post Five Creepy Kid Horror Movies To Stream This Week appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.