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Stay Home, Watch Horror: Five Creepy Kid Horror Movies to Stream This Week

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Ouija: Origin of Evil - Creepy Kid Horror Movies to Stream

Horror can always be counted on to transform the most innocuous concepts into unsettling nightmares, especially when it comes to exploring themes of parenthood.

In horror, children frequently veer straight into creepy territory with unsettling statements and empty stares. Creepy kids in horror have been a long-running archetype, turning out iconic characters like Antichrist Damien Thorn in The OmenThe Bad Seed’s Rhoda Penmark, and the possessed Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist.

This week’s streaming picks highlight some of horror’s most unnerving children.

Here’s where to stream these creepy kid horror movies this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.


The Brood – Criterion Channel, Max

The Brood

Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) is in the midst of an embittered separation process from his estranged wife Nola (Samantha Eggar), a woman currently undergoing experimental therapy. Her psychotherapist, Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed), has developed an experimental 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 all of 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 that could only hail from the brilliant mind of David Cronenberg.


Burial Ground – Midnight Pulp, SCREAMBOX

Burial Ground creepy kid

This Italian zombie siege movie directed by Andrea Bianchi brings the zombie mayhem. An archaeologist accidentally unearths zombies from a crypt near a sprawling mansion. They go on a rampage, causing the archaeologist’s arriving guests to lock themselves inside and try to survive the night. But the one thing that makes this stand out as a must-watch, beyond the nihilistic tone and great gore, is then 25-year-old Peter Bark’s performance as young child Michael. As if Bark’s eccentric portrayal isn’t enough, Michael harbors a disturbing sexual attraction to his mom. It’s as insane as it sounds. Even better is that this pick is currently free to stream this month on SCREAMBOX, giving you even more reason to watch the most unhinged child depicted in a horror movie.


The Hole in the Ground – Kanopy, Max

The Hole in the Ground Creepy Kid Horror

Evil Dead Rise writer/director Lee Cronin’s feature debut showcases the director’s ability to instill dread. After moving to the countryside, a single mother begins to worry her son might not be her son anymore after he disappears into the forest with a mysterious sinkhole and returns hours later. Featuring one of the creepier kids in modern horror, Cronin gives a unique spin on familiar Irish folklore. Beyond fascinating lore, The Hole in the Ground delivers unnerving atmosphere with an eerie child that keeps his unsettled mother, and the viewer by proxy, on edge.


The Innocents – AMC+, Shudder

‘The Innocents’ Review – A Provocative and Disturbing Moral Fable of Superpowered Innocence - Hold till 5/9

The Innocents is a provocative look at the fine line between good and evil and the darker side of innocence. Four compelling performances ground the disturbing horror, adding complex emotions and morality to fuel the tension. Writer/Director Eskil Vogt crafts a stunning portrayal of childhood morality with a tale of four children discovering supernatural abilities over a summer. Vogt twists the knife further by setting it under the bright Nordic sun; the terror these kids commit happens right under the adults’ noses, often in plain sight, with no one the wiser. The emotional authenticity heightens the horror, creating one of the most viscerally disturbing depictions of childhood in recent memory.


Ouija: Origin of Evil – Netflix

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Skip Ouija and go straight to this sequel/prequel from director Mike Flanagan, who cowrote the screenplay with Jeff Howard. The follow-up to the 2014 film rewound the clock to 1967 for an almost unrelated prequel, save for one visual tie-in post-end credits.  It follows a single mother and her two daughters, who run a séance scam business from their Los Angeles home. Naturally, a Ouija enters the equation and turns their lives into a waking nightmare. Look for clever period details and the requisite Easter egg of Flanagan’s Oculus mirror. Most of all, expect scene-stealer Lulu Wilson (The Wrath of Becky) to unleash maximum terror as the film’s resident creepy kid.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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Jessica Rothe Keeps the Hope Alive for Third ‘Happy Death Day’ Movie

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It’s now been five years since the release of sequel Happy Death Day 2U, Christopher Landon’s sequel to the Groundhog Day-style slasher movie from 2017. Both films star Jessica Rothe as final girl Tree Gelbman, and director Christopher Landon had been planning on bringing the character – and the actor – back for a third installment. So… where is it?!

We’ve been talking about a potential Happy Death Day 3 for several years now, with the ball in producer Jason Blum’s court. Happy Death Day 2U scared up $64 million at the worldwide box office, a far cry from the first film’s $125 million. But with a reported production budget of just $9 million, that first sequel was profitable for Blumhouse. So again… where is it?!

Chatting with Screen Geek this week while promoting her new action-thriller Boy Kills World, franchise star Jessica Rothe provided a hopeful update on Happy Death Day 3.

Well, I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out,” Rothe explains. “We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row.

Rothe continues in her comments to Screen Geek, “But my fingers are so crossed. I think Tree [Gelbman] deserves her third and final chapter to bring that incredible character and franchise to a close or a new beginning.”

Back in 2020, Christopher Landon had revealed that the working title for the third installment was Happy Death Day to Us, said to be “different than the other two films.”

In the meantime, Christopher Landon is directing a mysterious thriller titled Drop for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, along with a werewolf movie titled Big Bad for Lionsgate.

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