Top 10 horror movies with killer kids

With the release of "Orphan" this weekend, it's a good time to take a look back at other horror films focused on psychotic youngsters.  Whether or not "Orphan" will live up to the standards of the horror community remains to be seen, but if it's anything like these 10 movies, it certainly will not disappoint.

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10) “It’s Alive”
The Davis family is excited to be welcoming a new member into their growing family. Unfortunately for them, when the child is born it’s some kind of mutant freak that kills when it’s scared. From the opening moments when the child is born and kills the entire room of doctors, to the movie’s closing moments when the fugitive father must decided what’s to be done with his malformed, psychotic baby, “It’s Alive” is as unintentionally hilarious as it is strange. The movie spawned two sequels of lessening quality and a 2008 remake, shot in Bulgaria, which has yet to be released in the U.S.

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9) “Village of the Damned” (1960)
The entire British village of Midwich suddenly falls unconscious, the reasoning for which cannot be determined by the military investigating the phenomenon. Upon waking, all the women in the village find themselves pregnant. They subsequently all give birth on the same day to pale, blond children. As the children grow it becomes apparent that they can communicate telepathically and control other’s actions with their minds. “Village of the Damned” was remade in 1995 by horror icon John Carpenter, but the modern version couldn’t hold a candle to the creepy original horror classic.
 

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8) “Children of the Corn”
A group of children murder all the adults in a small Nebraska town and take the town as their own. Whenever any adults pass through, they are taken prisoner and sacrificed in strange cult-like rituals. If someone turns their back on the cult, they are murdered. The story focuses on two passers-through, Burt and Vicky Stanton, who are on a cross country drive to Seattle, WA. They enter the town and slowly learn its secrets, while trying to escape with two children who have turned their back on the cult. Based on the novel by Stephen King, “Children of the Corn” spawned a straight-to-video franchise with 6 more movies (only one of which saw a theatrical release). A TV remake is set to premiere on the SyFy Channel in the coming months, which will probably be awful.
 

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7) “The Ring”
You watch a cursed video tape and seven days later you die. It’s that simple. Who kills you? A little girl named Samara. “The Ring” started the craze of unearthing recent Asian horror films and remaking them for American audiences. Some horror fans scoff at “The Ring,” either saying it wasn’t scary or that the original, Japanese version, “Ringu” was far superior. Either way, you show me someone who says they weren’t creeped out when Samara crawled out of the television, dripping wet and monochrome, and I’ll show you a liar.

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6) “Halloween” (2007)
Rob Zombie’s take on John Carpenter’s “Halloween” seemed to split the horror community right down the middle. Some were fans of Zombie’s gritty re-imagining of the horror classic, while others complained about random aspects of the movie ranging from Zombie’s characterization of the Myers family, to him using his wife in a lead role again, while others just “didn’t care” about young Michael’s life before he donned the mask. For those of us who were fans, we were treated to seeing pre-teen Michael in all his psychotic glory, from him brutally bludgeoning a schoolyard bully to death, to the murder of his sister, to his incarceration and decline into the madman horror fans have grown to love. The sequel “H2” comes out in August.
 

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5) “Sleepaway Camp”
When Angela’s father and brother are tragically killed in a boating accident, she is sent to live with her domineering aunt. Eight years later, she and her cousin are sent to summer camp where she is bullied by fellow campers and is almost molested by the camp’s chef. Angela becomes more and more introverted as “accidents” occur leaving several dead or missing. This classic 80s slasher film steals it’s premise from other movies of the same nature, but has an ending guaranteed to shock first time viewers.

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4) "Pet Sematary"
After Louis Creed's three-year-old son, Gage, is killed in a tragic accident, he buries the boy's body at an old Indian burial ground. The ground is said to have magical powers that will bring the recently departed back to life. But what you put in the ground isn't what comes out. The Creed family and their elderly neighbor Judd find out the hard way that sometimes dead is better. When little Gage returns to the world of the living he looks innocent, but when he's biting Judd's throat out, he's anything but. Another film adaptation of a Stephen King novel, "Pet Sematary" is one of the horror icon's darkest visions.

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3) "Who Can Kill a Child?"
A British couple, Tom and Evelyn, are vacationing in Spain. They take a boat to a small island off the southern coast called Almanzora. Upon arrival, they find no adults and all the children are acting strangely. After seeing the children using a corpse as a piñata, they realize there is something seriously wrong with these kids. They must escape, but in doing so they're going to have to go through all the children on the island. "Who Can Kill a Child?" is a mid-70s Spanish horror treasure that was very hard to find until Dark Sky Films released it on DVD in 2007. Even though it borrows the same concept from "Village of the Damned," "Who Can Kill a Child?" brings the idea of a town full of possessed children to a whole new terrifying level.
 

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2) "Battle Royale"
A class of troubled students on a school outing are gassed, kidnapped, and taken to a remote island. There they are informed that have been selected to take part in a government sanctioned "Battle Royale," where the students are expected to kill each other until one is left standing. After three days, if a winner has not been crowned, they all will die. "Battle Royale" is highly regarded among horror fans as one of the best imports from the Far East. An American remake was planned, but halted after uproar in the media coupled with the Virginia Tech shootings. All controversy aside, "Battle Royale" is an amazing and provocative bloodbath which everyone should see, but should be viewed with caution..
 

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1) The Omen (1976)
Robert and Katherine Thorn's first child is stillborn, when Robert is approached by a priest with a replacement who's mother died while giving birth. As the years pass, the Thorn's son grows and strange deaths begin to occur. It's not long before Robert realizes his son is evil incarnate and he is faced with the decision to kill his child or let hell on Earth commence. The most obvious choice for number 1 is "The Omen."  What child could be more evil than the son of Satan himself? A horror classic of epic proportions, this film spawned three sequels and a remake, all of which pale in comparision to the original.