Esta excelente fonte fornece algumas respostas dadas por pessoas relacionadas ao gênero de terror (cineastas, escritores e especialistas).
Abaixo estão algumas citações de suas respostas à pergunta Por que bonecos e palhaços, tropos semelhantes que são frequentemente representados como crianças ou acompanhantes de crianças, são bem assustadores? :
Dolls are frozen in time—human, but not human. There's no life inside. There's a "dead" quality to dolls that can be creepy since their eyes are open, and they are often smiling and lifelike. It's the ultimate dichotomy that brings to mind a child's corpse.
Dolls can be creepy, because we expect them to be our playmates, bodyguards, and best friends when we are young and vulnerable. We also control their actions completely. So, for them to get up and run around the house on their own, or try to strangle us, that leaves us powerless and terrified.
It goes back to the imagination of a child, which is so very vast—because, again, a firm grasp on reality is not yet established. If a child plays with a doll or a clown as if it were real, then it's an easy gateway to bringing it to life. We were all once children and have the memories of struggling with fantasy and reality. I think it's probably often used within these films, because many can identify with that feeling.
As filmmakers, it's our job to reverse the expectation of the audience—whether that means to shock, delight, or a combination of the two. We all had one toy as a kid that we reflect back on and now appears monumentally unsettling. Plenty of filmmakers take that anxiety and amplify it with a big "what if" scenario.
Isso é específico para brinquedos antropomórficos, como bonecas e ursinhos de pelúcia. No entanto, todos os brinquedos são inseparavelmente relacionados a crianças e as crianças também são um tema comum no horror . Geralmente pensamos em nossas versões menores como puras e inocentes e projetamos os mesmos sentimentos nos brinquedos. Armas ou objetos similares são geralmente percebidos negativamente. Se você lida com um brinquedo maligno, simplesmente adiciona um valor de choque adicional.
In the modern world, nothing is more revered than children, as they are the embodiment of innocence. And for that innate innocence to be contaminated by something evil or corrupt or dangerous is inherently mysterious and disturbing.
I think at its core, horror is about the unpredictability and vulnerability of life; the knowledge that, as safe and serene as things may seem, and as much as we strive to create a bubble of safety and continuity for ourselves, around any corner and at any future moment may come death, pain, loss, psychological trauma, or another form of terror. Depictions of evil or otherwise unsettled children play into this so well, as we often view them as human life at its most "innocent" and "uncorrupted"; to see them as an agent of evil is to know that nothing and no one in life can be completely trusted. Along the same lines, children are also seen as human life at its most "cute," and so a dangerous child pushes some of the same buttons in a horror movie as would an evil dog, gremlin, robot, alien, or other exaggerated "cute" form that transforms into something dangerous.