What is it about kids and horror? Some of the creepiest performances by actors in terrifying features belong to people in their teens… or younger!
Floria Sigismondi’s THE TURNING looks to add two more names to the lengthy list of child actors turned holy terrors for the benefit of a big-screen story. In the film, Mackenzie Davis (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE) agrees to nanny two children in what looks to be a haunted mansion. They are played by Brooklynn Prince and Finn Wolfhard, who has his own horror resume thanks to IT and the Netflix series "Stranger Things."
Heading into THE TURNING, which opens on January 24, we started thinking about other movies in which kid actors chilled us to the bone. Catch up on these memorable examples through AMC Theatres On Demand right now.
The Sixth Sense
"I see dead people." With four simple words, THE SIXTH SENSE made overnight sensations of both Hayley Joel Osment and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan. The shocking twist from the movie holds up to this day, and Bruce Willis deserved Oscar® consideration for his understated role as a compassionate soul trying to help a disturbed little boy.
Pet Sematary (1989)
Yes, we just saw a remake pf PET SEMATARY, and it, too, embraced the darker elements of Stephen King’s bewitching novel. But Mary Lambert’s 1989 movie, about a family who tempts fate by burying their dead in a haunted burial plot, has an all-time creepy performance by young Miko Hughes, whose Gage Creed gave a generation of moviegoers nightmares.
The Shining
You could easily focus on Danny (Danny Lloyd), the young son of Jack and Wendy Torrance, in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s work. (What is it with King and kids? He did it for IT, as well!) The boy rides his bike around a haunted hotel and makes his finger speak. Weird, Danny. Just weird. But it’s the appearance of those twin girls who want Danny to "come play" with them that gets THE SHINING on this list. We’re getting goosebumps just thinking about them.
Grab tickets to see THE TURNING at AMC, opening January 24!