What Makes Puppets So Scary? Here's a Theory
Horror films often turn innocuous objects into instruments of death. Final Destination fashioned an entire franchise out of that gag, and in Child's Play a voodoo spell turns a talking doll into a killing machine. And don't even get me started on The Gingerdead Man.
What to make of the cinematic terrors enacted by dummies? Or, to put it another way: how do good puppets go bad? The trend begins in Great Gabbo (1929), which starred Erich von Stroheim as a deranged ventriloquist with a dummy that has a mind of its own. The Dead of Night (1945) mined similar territory, with Michael Redgrave giving a manic performance as a schizophrenic ventriloquist. Devil Doll (1965) had the puppet turning against his master -- a tradition that continued in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone aptly named "The Dummy."
What accounts for our fear of inanimate objects come to life (or automatonophobia, if you want to get technical)?
One explanation is the "uncanny valley" theory. Posited by the Japanese robot builder Masahiro Mori in 1970, it suggests that our repulsion toward anthropomorphic objects increases the closer they come to appearing human. In short, a near human (Frankenstein) is far creepier than an out-and-out nonhuman (King Kong).
But don't think knowing the cause of this phobia will make Magic, starring Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist with a testy wooden friend, any less unnerving.
Puppets thy name is FEAR! The usual fodder for horror movies: spiders, clowns, monsters in general leave me more interested in direction and basic aesthetics than being scary. But when the Magic trailer used to run on tv , I would be scared, like hide my head under the blankets scared. The Zuni fetish doll, from Trilogy of Terror, had a similiar effect on me. I clearly remember as a child not being able to go to bed until every toy with the slightest humanoid shape was safely put away in a closet or drawer or sleep was out of the question. Wow, I must have automatonophobia, thanks Robert!
Thanks for your comment David. Maybe it also explains the relative failure of 1996's animatronic The Adventures of Pinocchio? Even I think this trailer is kinda creepy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8e2Hv-nO24
Stop putting ads for shows on the screen during movies, it is VERY annoying and only makes me NOT watch the show advertised! If you don't stop soon, I will stop watching your channel all together!
A-hah! That's where Gabbo from "The Simpsons" got his name!
Strangely enough, there was a show I liked in the '90s called "What A Dummy" which was about a dummy possessed by a wisecracking comedian. Except he wasn't a psycho. And it was way better than anything else Stephen Dorf has done to date. coughBladecough
La Dracul: Interesting factoid(s).