With the release of Blumhouse’s and Atomic Monster’s The Monkeywe’ve thinking about what other toys might be ripe for the haunting horror flick adaptation. From M3gan to Chuckythere’s certainly no dearth of killer doll movies out there already, but the match between Osgood Perkins and The Monkey gave Stephen King and giddy horror gore hounds something to laugh about this week with the filmmaker’s gallows humor driving a slick bloody good time. So what other toys deserve the horror treatment?
There’s definitely a number of childhood toys to pair the genre with, and while some have specific IP that would never go for a horror film’s use,, there’s plenty of creative ways around it–Annabellefor another example in that killer doll genre, was inspired by stories of a real haunted Raggedy Ann doll. So here’s five more toys that we think could make it work to frightful effect on the big.
The Slime Cult
Kids these days are big on slime. It’s odd but from mass marketed slime products to DIY ones, the goop has ’em good. So what better way to take that trend and give a spooky underpinning? It’s perfect for a Blob send up, or a slime cult that controls kids via ASMR videos. The Substance’s Coralie Fargeat has said she doesn’t have plans for a sequel, but she would be the perfect candidate to direct a gross and fun parable for parents who let their kids get consumed by the slime in a similar vein.
Furby
The excellent Mitchells vs The Machines already gave us a great bit with violent creepy Furbies, so why not a whole movie? Honestly someone like Taika Waititi should go ham on a Furby horror film–they’re creepy and kooky so its right up his alley. Plus who didn’t have a Furby that somehow lived for ages and wouldn’t die? I shudder thinking about the random luggage filled with old toys I accidentally hit while rummaging for Christmas decor last year, which unleashed the Furby sounds going off from within randomly throughout the day and night. We couldn’t figure out how to get the hideous bleating to stop so we donated it. Someone else’s problem, it is what it is, but also? Killer premise for a movie.
Tickle Me Elmo
Okay, so obviously Sesame Street would never let Elmo be the center of a horror film. However, there was a really freaky true story of a kid who had one that alleged that it not only talked to him, but according to the Tampa Bay Times, also was found by his mother purportedly urging the child to kill in a sing-song voice. You wouldn’t need the license–you could just make it a generic, perhaps even red and fuzzy, plush talking toy of a similar design and scope (tickle me Elmo might be iconic, but it’s far from the only toy of its kind). This could be adapted into a fuzzy puppet toy being possession film, with a ghost who can speak to its child through the voice box. Who’d be game for a kid’s darkly whimsical and suspenseful ghost story? We’re thinking I Saw the TV Glow’s Jane Schoenbrun.
Cabbage Patch Kids
It’d be easy to riff on dolls like the Cabbage Patch Kids or American Girl, these idealized versions of perfect little girls–leaning a bit more cutesy than something like M3ganwhich played on similar tropes. We’re thinking families in mourning have their kid’s consciousness uploaded into dolls to help them cope, but they go haywire. In the real life there were reports that the Snacktime Kids Edition of the Cabbage Patch dolls were chomping on kids, and their hair could get caught in the mechanism. Zoe Kravitz showed she could handle a thriller vibe in Blink Twice–it’d be fun to see her try a take on the popular ’90s dolls she may have grown up with.
Huggy Wuggy
This is a toy that kids clearly know is evilbut they still want it anyways. That’s already weird, but it only gets weirder, because these horrifyingly ugly-looking fuzzy monsters have spread like wildefire, and can be found all over, whether it’s the official version or in myriad knockoffs of various colors at swap meets and markets, plastered with that sharp, toothy smile. Although Huggy Wuggy started off as a character in the indie horror video game in Poppy’s Playtime–already set to get the film adaptation treatment from Legendary–the design is just too good to not include, or imagine a standalone idea for. Maybe one that goes meta and leans into the toy’s omnipresent, viral popularity in our own world, even among kids who’ve never heard of Poppy’s Playtimelet alone played it. Hypnotic and viral? Nope. Don’t like that. We don’t know who’s been tapped for the Poppy’s Playtime movie yet, but as for our picks here? Trick r’ Treat’s Michael Doughetry would be great.
The Monkey hits theaters next week on February 21–some variation of all these toys above, meanwhile, are available on toy shelves everywhere… should you dare.
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