Creepy Kids

Although appearing in various cultures since the dawn of time, the figure of the "creepy kid" took on heightened relevance during the modern era, particularly in the literary realm (thanks to the increasing acceptance and diffusion of the novel in the 18th and 19th centuries). It was the United Kingdom which unquestionably took a leading role in codifying what is today a genuine archetype of great genre fiction. In response to the Victorian era's (1837-1901) rigid morality, horrible children became an increasingly popular figure in English literature during the early 20th century, a trend which inevitably influenced the silver screen as well.

Regardless of why the children and teens receiving this Tag behave the way they do (resentment, a desire for revenge, psychopathology, a power trip, plain old nastiness, etc.), they're generally driven by evil intentions, displaying cruel, violent, and/or perverted conduct to deliberately make others suffer or even kill them. By extension, this Tag will also consider cases of (pre)pubescent characters who, although not strictly "evil", are still the source of considerable turmoil, whether due to their intrinsic oddness ("The Damned" - 1962, "Children of the Damned" - 1964) or their precocious eroticism ("What the Peeper Saw" - 1972, "Maladolescenza" - 1977, "L'Immoralità" - 1978).

A quick review of the types of movies included in this Tag yields some general - although not necessarily mutually exclusive -categories: