{"id":8582,"date":"2019-06-19T14:42:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T21:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=8582"},"modified":"2019-06-20T11:51:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T18:51:35","slug":"why-dolls-creep-us-out-so-much-and-the-murdery-movie-ones-that-creep-us-out-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/the-creepiest-dolls-in-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Dolls Creep Us Out So Much (And The Murdery Movie Ones That Creep Us Out Most)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of horror has b<\/span>lessed us with countless\u00a0<\/span>creepies<\/span>\u00a0that shouldn\u2019t be creepy\u00a0<\/span>over the years. Clowns? Terrifying. Children? No, thank you.\u00a0<\/span>Santa? Probably\u00a0<\/span>gonna<\/span>\u00a0murder you if his elves don\u2019t get to you first. But I don\u2019t feel like we discuss murder dolls with enough frequency, despite their near-constant presence in the genre.\u00a0<\/span>The fear of these creepy little jerks is rooted in two very real phobias:\u00a0<\/span>pediophobia<\/span>\u00a0(a subcategory of the fear of humanoid figures\u2014<\/span>automatonophobia<\/span>), and\u00a0<\/span>pupaphobia<\/span>\u00a0(the fear of puppets).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice the term \u201ccreepy\u201d used above. Often we use the word as a way to add character to writing, or to show that we\u2019re not being overly serious about a topic. In this case, the use of the word is intentional. Francis T.\u00a0<\/span>McAndrew<\/span>\u00a0and Sara S.\u00a0<\/span>Koehnke<\/span>\u00a0wrote a research paper on the concept of creepiness back in 2016 titled \u201cOn The Nature of Creepiness\u201d<\/span>. This paper doesn\u2019t just discuss why the idea of being\u00a0<\/span>creeped<\/span>\u00a0out is so unsettling, it also names collecting dolls as one of the creepiest hobbies one can have. 1,300 people surveyed, doll collectors. Stop collecting tiny murderers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turns Out Being Creeped Out By Dolls Is An Evolutionary Response<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s go back to the idea of why feeling\u00a0<\/span>creeped<\/span>\u00a0out is different from outright fear.\u00a0<\/span>Fear is a definitive emotion. If a bear three times your size is charging at you, instincts tell you to be afraid. Your mind and body know how to respond to fear. Creepiness is reliant on ambiguity. It\u2019s a \u201cthis porcelain creep-<\/span>meister<\/span>\u00a0probably isn\u2019t\u00a0<\/span>gonna<\/span>\u00a0kill me in my sleep, but I think I\u2019m\u00a0<\/span>gonna<\/span>\u00a0lock her in this here drawer just to be safe\u201d kind of vibe.\u00a0<\/span>McAndrew<\/span>\u00a0calls it a sort of hyper-vigilance:<\/span><\/p>\n

“It really focuses your attention and helps you process any relevant information to help you decide whether there is something to be afraid of or not. I really think creepiness is where we respond in situations where we don\u2019t know have enough information to respond, but we have enough to put us on our guard.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Koehnke<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>McAndrew<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>also postulate that being\u00a0<\/span>creeped<\/span>\u00a0out by dolls is both prudent and evolutionary (suck on\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span><\/i>anyone who\u2019s ever made fun of me for giving a giant \u201cNOPE\u201d to anything with a porcelain pout!). Because the brain tells us to search for signs of intention in the human face, it gets a little wigged out when it can\u2019t find it. Also, those little jerks make constant eye contact, an act that we view as a way to establish dominance with other creatures. You\u2019re not the alpha, doll! You\u2019re just a creepy little murder puppet with an extremely fragile face.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Hollywood Definitely Hasn’t Helped<\/h2>\n

Folks like to blame Hollywood for the whole \u201ccreepy doll\u201d stigma, but humans have been wigged out by their immobile counterparts for centuries. 1816\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>The Sandman,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>written by E.T.A Hoffman,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>involves a wind-up doll that was brought to life by alchemy. The doll would eventually drive its owner mad. More contemporary dolls have gotten a bit more murder-centric, but they\u2019ve started unsettling humans from the moment they began to vaguely look like us.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, make no mistake; Hollywood may not have started the stigma around dolls, but it sure as heck hasn\u2019t helped it go away. Murder dolls are an easy scare. You can have a completely\u00a0<\/span>motionless automaton that remains as such throughout the entirety of your film, and folks are still going to be uneasy about it. Let\u2019s take a look at some of those movie murder dolls that have scared us most through the ages.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Talky Tina – ‘The Twilight Zone’<\/h2>\n