‘The Exorcist’s Regan MacNeil has been voted the scariest child of all time.
Linda Blair’s character from the 1973 horror classic beat out ‘The Omen’s Damien and ‘The Ring’s Samara Morgan to top the poll from Now TV, while the titular character in both ‘Carrie’ and ‘The Grudge’ were also deemed to be unnerving.
But the research showed it wasn’t just on screen children that leave people spooked, as almost a quarter of those surveyed admitted to having been creeped out by an unnerving child in real life.
Over 10 per cent were spooked by sleepwalking kids, but more terrifyingly, seven per cent had seen a youngster speak to someone who wasn’t there or hallucinated something, and three per cent were terrified when a child shared a premonition they’d had.
Scary children feature in 10% of nightmares, with young adults most affected – the same age group which find child performances the most disturbing.
Paul Sweeney , the Director of Sales & Marketing at NOW TV said: ""Here on NOW TV we’ve got more creepy children than you can shake a stick at – pick from the tormented Carrie, the frightful mumma’s boy, Jason Voorhees or the possessed Janet Hodgson from The Conjuring 2 to haunt your Halloween dreams."
Whether you’re searching for something sinister or simply want to stream the scariest kids in films, NOW TV has you covered.
Stream some of the scariest spine-chilling moments from the big screen with a NOW TV Sky Cinema Pass for £9.99.
The top 10 scariest children in film:
1. Regan MacNeil – ‘The Exorcist’
2. Damien – ‘The Omen’
3. Samara Morgan – ‘The Ring’
4. Carrie – ‘Carrie’
5. The Grudge – ‘The Grudge’
6. Grady Twins – ‘The Shining’
7. Young Jason Voorhees – ‘Friday 13th Series’
8. Michael Myers – ‘Halloween: 20 years later’
9. Janet Hodgson – ‘The Conjuring 2’
10. Cole Sear – ‘The Sixth Sense’