Why do we find dolls so creepy?

The murderous plastic playmate Chucky is back in a new movie, but what is it about these particular children’s toys that sparks a fearful reaction? David Barnett opens the cellar door that leads to our ‘uncanny valley’

‘The dolls that I think most trigger a reaction are the real baby dolls, which are made to look almost completely lifelike apart from their stillness’ (iStock)

The chances are that you have, at one time or another, shared a house with at least one doll. Perhaps you owned a baby doll as a child, maybe you display them in adulthood, or have a friend or aunt who does. If you’ve got young children, you probably trip over one on a regular basis. You might be able to see a doll from where you’re sitting right at this minute.

Which is surprising, really, considering the received wisdom we get from horror movies and books is that dolls are generally given to coming alive with psychopathic, murderous intent.

This summer sees the return of Chucky to the cinema screens in a reboot of the 1988 horror movie Child’s Play. The new film is pretty much a retread of the old one, in which little boy Andy gets a coveted talking Buddi doll named Chucky from his mother. But this toy-of-the-moment has a little added extra; the spirit of an evil crook (voiced this time round by Star Wars’ Mark Hamill) which has been transferred into the doll, resulting in slasherific mayhem and carnage.