Children are the key ingredient for making a horror film even scarier. And we all know, the cuter they are, the scarier they tend to be. Here are the top ten child actors who raised the bar in their specific roles.

10. Robert Daniel and Dartanian Sloan as Dylan and Zach Collins in Sinister II (2015)

Zach and Dylan move with their mother to an abandoned farmhouse as they hide from their abusive father. Not long after, Dylan is visited by the ghost children sent by Baghuul, the Boogeyman, and Zach becomes increasingly jealous and hostile towards Dylan because of it. Robert and Dartanian Sloan play polar opposite roles. Dylan is more innocent and gentle than Zach, who has an inclination toward brutality because of his abusive father. They fill the movie with equal amounts of pity and disgust, and prove that nothing good ever happens when the bad guy tries to manipulate twins in a horror movie.

9. Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse as Victoria and Lily Desange in Mama (2013)

After their father kills their birth mother, Lily and Victoria are raised in the woods by a mysterious ghostly force named “Mama”, who raises the girls for three years before they are found by their uncle’s friends. Most monster flicks require a bit of “cheese tolerance”, as in unpolished performances that must often be saved by the amount of jump scares and gore. Not only are the girls two very adorable kids but their portrayal of feral children with little to no socially normal cues will make you think twice about walking into an abandoned cabin in the woods. Isabelle Nélisse is especially notable as she plays a character with little to no dialogue, and still elicits an encouraging response from audiences to make it to the end.

8. Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther in Orphan (2009)

Esther is adopted by young couple John and Kate after the sad death of their third baby. She is everything a couple could want and then some. Super polite, cute, and sweet, although, the murderous aspect of her personality may need some workshopping. John and Kate soon find out that the orphanage has never heard of Esther and that something indeed may be very wrong. I’ve babysat a few kids in my day who exhibited more adult tendencies than their own parents but none have ever tried to kill me, thankfully. Orphan is automatically a horror classic because of Isabelle Fuhrman’s performance of an intelligent, classy, yet antisocial child who goes for the jugular of each of her family members, driving them into chaos before the climax. 

7. Jodelle Ferland as Alessa Gillespie in Silent Hill (2006)

Big fans of the horror franchise and video game series know that Alessa is the ringleader and source of darkness in the town of Silent Hill due to her horrendously abusive and violent childhood. Jodelle Ferland plays three roles including young Alessa, with Dark Alessa and Sharon Dasilva. A child like Alessa who inhabs a grotesque and obscene world like the one in this film should be heavily mature and desensitized to the torture of the world. Jodelle embodies that with a prestigious amount of grace and confidence.

6. Quinn Lord as Sam/Samhain in Trick ‘R Treat (2007)

Sam, short for Samhain, visits one town every year on Halloween to ensure tradition is followed. If you break the laws and customs of Halloween, Sam will exact bloody revenge with his lollipop shiv. Sam isn’t considered evil nor good. He’s more like the gory referee of having a good time versus being a buzzkill. Trick ‘R Treat fans know that Sam doesn’t speak throughout the film. I have to hand it to Quinn Lord for adding to the list of actors who stay silent yet still manage to garner our favor. If his role as Sam had a tagline, I’d say it was “cute but vicious.”