One
of the reasons why the clown scene in Poltergeist scares the hell out of us is
that we’ve all had that experience at least once in our lives, usually with a
favored toy or an artfully-thrown jacket and baseball cap, or something
similar. In this case, the clown doll does double duty for being both (A) a
doll, and (B) a clown that is disturbing even in the light of day. Our
fascination with totems and effigies that move when we’re not looking, whether
it’s Pixar’s Toy Story movies or the venerable and not-very-good Dollman
franchise from Full Moon Entertainment, is actually a place holder for a lot of
things: the Pinocchio story, the Frankenstein/Prometheus tale (gone wrong, of
course), the betrayal from something innocent from our childhood, or just a
plain ol’ stand-in for a loss of control from things beyond our ken. Pick one,
or pick several. It doesn’t matter. It all adds up to one thing: sheer terror.
This
is one of the few things that really scares me. There’s nothing worse than a
creepy-looking doll suddenly turn its head to look Right. At. You. Just
thinking about some of the movies on this list gives me the heebie-jeebies. As
a life-long collector of action figures, there’s a niggling thought at the back
of my head that they talk about me all judgey and stuff when I’m not in the
room. Not that I don’t think I could defend myself from a pack of 3 ¾” action
figures, but still...
