Creepy kids in movies are a thing. I’d go look it up on TVtropes, except that I would lose hours of time reading TVtropes. So let’s just take it as read, as denizens of popular culture, that there are a lot of creepy kids in movies (and TV, and books.) They’re a horror cliché at this point, especially the female version — and why are they so often female? There’s another blog post there, don’t spoil it for me by being brilliant.
Anyhow, the creepy Feral Child in Road Warrior made me think of other movie children I have known, and try to set his creepiness amongst them. I must confess, I initially made this scale run up to a maximum of St. Alia of the Knife, but Ryan disabused me of this notion, arguing persuasively that the scale was recalibrated in 2002 if not earlier. So, feast your eyes on this SCIENCE!
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I haven’t seen The Ring. And I won’t. But unless this is too low-brow for you, consider adding Jane from the Twilight Saga. (I think the first one she appears in is New Moon.) Played by Dakota Fanning with RED EYES. She inflicts pain with her gaze and is very creepy! Especially since part of your brain is going “oh, little Dakota Fanning, how cute.”
Pretty funny you wrote about Feral Child recently (I just read it today) because I have, in actual fact, only watched five minutes of television on my TV in the last 10 weeks or so, two days ago, and it was Road Warrior, and I was like “whoa! Feral Child!”
I just returned to purchasing Asimov’s, F&SF, and Analog, after several years of not doing so, and I just ran into the first story of yours that I’ve seen, in the July 2011 Asimov’s. It was fantastic enough that I ended up Googling you, and found this site.
As to this post, Samara and Red Queen are the two that came immediately to mind as I started reading it, and I think the Red Queen is actually my favorite part of that movie (“You are all going to die”). And, spoilers ahead, as my wife could tell you, not much in movies makes me jump, but I certainly did when Samara stepped out of the TV.
Anyway, off to track down more of your stories!
Allen — I’m so glad you liked the story! (Must have been “Apocalypse Daily”.) As you may have already learned by now, I have one story online in full text (“Conditional Love”, here), and I just sold my first fantasy piece, to F&SF. I don’t know when it will be out, but if you’re buying it, you’ll be sure to run across it then!
After I saw that movie, I couldn’t look into the darkness without imagining Samara coming out of it. For weeks. At least. Ugh. Samara.
Good luck tracking down my stories! Full listing here. I’m glad to have found another reader!