The Movieline Nine
Kick-Ass's Hit Girl, and 9 Other Controversial Cinematic Children Up to No Good
One of the most bracing elements of the upcoming comic book adaptation Kick-Ass is Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), a 12-year-old superheroine who indulges in some decidedly R-rated mischief like graphic villain-garroting and “c***”-laced bon mots. A recent clip of Hit Girl in action has begun to spark controversy, but at least Lionsgate can point to a long history of cinematic children engaging in inappropriate (and often sociopathic) behavior. Here are nine other kids who blazed a bloody trail for her:
Rhoda Penmark, The Bad Seed
Played By: Patty McCormack
Age: 8
Sociopathic Tendencies: Thanks to serial killer genes inherited from her maternal grandmother, Rhoda blithely murders a classmate, a neighbor, and a janitor.
Success Level: 5. The pigtailed Rhoda got away with a lot more in the play — in the movie, she’s killed by a freak lightning strike and then McCormack herself is spanked over the end credits.
Henry Evans, The Good Son
Played By: Macaulay Culkin
Age: 12
Sociopathic Tendencies: Kills a dog and a cat, singlehandedly causes a ten-car pileup, and attempts to murder his mother and sister like he did his younger brother.
Success Level: 3. Master criminals really shouldn’t be taken down by the likes of Elijah Wood.
Mathilda Lando, The Professional
Played By: Natalie Portman
Age: 12
Sociopathic Tendencies: After her entire family is murdered, Mathilda begs hitman Léon (Jean Reno) to teach her the tricks of his trade so she can take out the villainous Stansfield (Gary Oldman).
Success Level: 2. Mathilda’s training was controversial at the time — even more so for the sexual subtext that clouded her relationship with Léon — but onscreen ultraviolence has come a long way since. In a firefight, Hit Girl would wipe the floor with her.
Joshua Cairn, Joshua
Played By: Jacob Kogan
Age: 9
Sociopathic Tendencies: Basically just wants to drive everyone crazy so he can live with (and play piano alongside) his gay uncle. If a lot of alllllmost-murders are a part of that, then so be it!
Success Level: 6. Actually does murder his grandmother, and does quite the psychological number on his parents (Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga). It’s a small body count, but getting away with it has to count for something.
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Posted 13 Jan 2010, 4:57 PM
Think you are forgetting a very important child in this list, Jodie Foster as Rynn, the 13 year-old murderess in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. While not necessarily a sociopath, she manages to kill her mother, hide the body and get rid of evidence of the woman who knows her mother is dead, and out smart a pedophile into poisoning himself, all while the cops and several other people keep looking in on her. While she may not have the physical prowess of some of these others, she would definitely be able to out smart them all.
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 8:49 AM
Great list but how about "Who Can Kill A Child?"
http://www.allmovie.com/work/who-can-kill-a-child-96806
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 5:46 PM
Drew Barrymore, Firestarter
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 6:55 PM
Children of the Corn!
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 6:59 PM
Gage from Pet Cemetary... holy scalpel to the achilles!
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 7:08 PM
Thanks for ruining the ending of Orphan! :/
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 7:20 PM
Cool list. But, I think they missed a few.
Baby Selwyn - Dead-Alive
Zombie Baby - Redneck Zombies
Samantha Pringle - Deadly Friend
Danny Torrance - The Shining
Gage Creed - Pet Sematary
Posted 14 Jan 2010, 7:42 PM
Oldboy - lots of children (and adults) up to no good. Plus its actually a better movie then all the above combined.
Posted 15 Jan 2010, 11:32 AM
Bill Mumy reprised his character in a later episode, after the series received one of it's revamps, as an adult. He's still killing, and has his remaining family scared of him. He has a daughter (Played by Mumy's daughter), who has the same abilities, who does him off.
Posted 13 Feb 2010, 6:53 AM
Always weird when you meet someone named Damien who was probably born after The Omen was released.