The 12 Movies That Will Shock You By Breaking the Taboo of The Villain Targeting Children

The Master of Horror gets his own listing here. I could make a list with just his films alone. Starting with the film made of his debut novel "Carrie," Yes, teenagers are kids too. The list goes through movies like "Children Of The Corn," "Cujo," "Firestarter," "The Shining," and especially movies like "IT" and "Pet Sematary," up to some of the newest adaptations of his books like "In The Tall Grass" and "The Bogeyman." King has never shied away from putting lots of kids in danger regularly. For him, this taboo doesn't really exist.

Okay, I was kidding when I said I would put all of the Stephen King films in one entry—"Doctor Sleep," written and directed by Mike Flanagan, is yet another prime candidate for inclusion on the list of movies that put kids in danger. There's taboo-breaking aplenty in this film, and it deserves its own entry for the scene where the True Knot consumes a psychic child's "steam" or life essence. Jacob Tremblay, who plays the child, Bradley Trevor, makes this scene hard to watch since the psychic predators must torture and frighten the child to complete the feeding.

This beloved Halloween anthology written and directed by Michael Dougherty doesn't spare anyone but has two segments devoted to putting children in deadly peril. One of the killers is the school principal, and another is the local bus driver. Granted, the bus driver did do the deed at the request of the kids' parents, so toss the parents of the kids in the "Halloween School Bus Massacre" on the list too.

It is more of a passive danger throughout the film, and the violence happens off-camera, but Night Of The Living Dead does have an aspect of a child in danger with the daughter of Harry and Helen Cooper, Karen. The little girl was wounded by a zombie and becomes sick, and no one in the group is sure what will happen. The worst thing that could happen does happen, and the child's condition remains a constant yet understated worry during the entire film. The film stars Duane Jones, Judith Dea, Kyra Schon as Karen and Karl Hardman, and Marilyn Eastman as Harry and Helen Cooper.

In David Cronenberg's film, which stars Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar, the mother and child bond is turned into something completely different and much more sinister. Frank and Nola Carveth are Candice's parents, and Candice is captured by her mother's rage children, who are finally sent to kill the child. The situation is pretty intense, especially considering the source of the danger.

George Romero's other film about an epidemic, "The Crazies", also puts children in danger. In the original and the 2010 remake, which is more overtly violent than the original, the film starts with a father suddenly going berserk and hunting his own family through the house. When he fails to find them, he lights the home on fire. Neither film holds back on this disturbing idea.

Scary movies putting children in danger aren't new. One of the genre's foundational stories, which has been adapted many times, is "Dracula," written by Bram Stoker. In the book and these two cinematic adaptations of the story, children are menaced not once but twice. The first instance is when Dracula gives his brides a child stolen from the village to feast on. The second is when Lucy Westenra returns from the grave as a revenant and chooses children as her prey as the Bloofer (or Beautiful) Lady.

One of Wes Craven's other scary movies is a tale of a family going out into the desert and inadvertently running into a cannibal family. This film puts the whole family in danger, but there are teenage members of the family and an infant. Even the infant, played by Brenda Marinoff, manages to look distressed in the 1977 version of the movie, which is great infant acting. Both versions of the film, Alexandre Aja remade the film in 2006 with Craven producing, follow the same story, so there's lots of children in danger in both films.

In this film, directed by Don Coscarelli and starring A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, and Bill Thornbury, the central conceit is that the young boy Mike suspects that something strange is going on at the local funeral home. Mike is in danger in most of the film, but he is also the film's hero, as he valiantly fights Angus Scrimm's iconic Tall Man.

Scott Derrickson's film "The Black Phone" not only has a serial killer who targets children, but there is also violence and bullying among the children in school, and the father of the two central children in the story is an abusive alcoholic. Phew, that's a lot of danger in one film. The film stars Ethan Hawke as The Grabber, the horrific killer, and Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Miguel Mora, Tristan Pravong, Brady Hepner, and Banks Repeta as the strong and brave children who fight back.

Lee Cronin's film "Evil Dead Rise' has a main cast of three children and concerns a mom possessed by the evil force that creates Deadites in our world. The film has a poignant take on motherhood and the bond between mothers, children, and families. It is also a very dangerous film for everyone involved, including the cute kids that are in it. Starring Lilly Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and Nell Fisher. The film is not only a rollercoaster ride of scares but is funny and touching. It's got everything.

William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" is centered on the peril of a child who is possessed by a demon. It's pretty much a horror film when a child is put in some of the worst kinds of danger. All you have to do is watch the film, and you will know what I mean. Starring Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair as Regan with an assist from the voice talents of Mercedes McCambridge, who provided the voice of the demon. This central concept is what made the film so horrifying and made audiences feel so powerless.