Child Actors

I'm not always a fan of child actors; they're usually too precocious for my taste. But every once in a while, there is a kid who stands out and makes you take notice. For example, I really love Tatum O'Neal's performance in Peter Bogdanovich's hilarious grifter comedy Paper Moon. She's spot on as a young orphan who may or may not be the biological daughter of Ryan O'Neal's conman Bible salesman. She won an Oscar for the role (and deserved it).

But I'm always a sucker for kids in peril or kids who survive the horrors to which their adult co-stars always seem to fall prey. And since I love Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy movies more than most other genres, this blog is about The Best Performances by a Child Actor in a Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie. So, without further ado, here are my choices, in no particular order:

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Patty McCormack for The Bad Seed:

In the 1950's, genetics was a relatively new science, and the debate bewteen Nature vs. Nurture was truly in its infancy. In his then terrifying play, Maxwell Anderson explored the concept in a sordid little tale about a seemingly perfect little girl who was actaully a sociopathic killer who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Reprising her stage role for director Mervin LeRoy's (The Wizard of Oz) 1956 adaptation, Patty McCormack is absolutely chilling as Rhoda Penmark, the bilogical granddaughter of serial killer Bessie Denker. After she kills a classmate for his penmanship medal, Rhoda's mother begins to suspect her daughter may well be a "Bad Seed" and as events unfold, soon becomes sure of it. In the original stage version, Rhoda's mom succumbs to a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while murderous Rhoda survives her mother's murder attempt. In the film, restricted by the still enforced Hayes Code, Rhoda gets her just desserts.

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Henry Thomas for E.T.:

I had a film teacher who said he hated Steven Spielberg's work because it was "emotionally manipulative." I thought, 'Well, isn't that the point?' And of course, it is. A good artist is always able to manipulate an emotional response to his work, regardless of his medium. In his 1982 fantasy E.T., Spielberg found the perfect kid to push our emotional buttons in young Henry Thomas, a lonely boy befriended by a lonely alien. We laughed; we cried and our hearts leapt for joy when Elliot and ET soared across the moon. Reportedly, Spielberg used all kinds of off-screen tricks to get his young actors (including very young star-in-bloom, Drew Barrymore) to react the way he wanted. But who cares how he got those amazing performances? The fact is, he did and they remain indeliably etched into movie fans' psyches.

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Carrie Henn for Aliens:

James Cameron (Titanic; The Terminator) made this uber-exciting sequel to Alien a filmic rollercoaster ride and turned actress Sigourney Weaver into a household name with his action-packed tale of futuristic Marines battling a horde of acid-blooded beasties on a far-away planet. Ms Henn, as the only survivor of a human colony decimated by the chest-bursting creatures, gives one hell of a performance in her one and only film. She even has the movie's best and most chilling line: "They mostly come out at night... mostly." Who didn't choke up when she wrapped herself around Ripley and cried "Mommy!"? And how sad were we that director David Fincher killed her off in Alien3?

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Fairuza Balk for Return to Oz:

Often derided as "dark" and "frightening," (though you'll never hear me complain about those adjectives when it comes to film), Disney's Wizard of Oz sequel is sadly given short-shrift by those who love the Judy Garland classic. Director Walter Murch's 1985 film is far more faithful to the L. Frank Baum originals than it's musical predecessor and features an astonishing performance from young Fairuza Balk, who is probably best known for the underrated horror film The Craft. Fearing young Dorothy is suffering from a psychological disorder, Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) takes her to see a psychiatrist (Nicol Williams) who is about to apply shock therapy when a sudden storm knocks out the electrcity and allows Dorothy to return to the land of Oz, where she must free Princess Ozma from the witch Mombi's (Jean Marsh) prison. Young Ms Balk is the perfect antithesis to Garland's Dorothy, and her performance is nearly flawless in this much under-appreciated film.

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Heather O'Roarke for Poltergeist:

Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directed this Spielberg-produced ghost story about a typical surbaban family's encounter with the supernatural. When their daughetr Carol-Ann is snatched into the otherword, Steven and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Wiliams) will go to any lengths to bring her back. Fraught with urban legends surrounding the deaths of several of its stars (including Ms. O'Rourke and co-star Dominique Dunne), Poltergiest remains one of the few films I can see over and over and never get sick of. In fact, we've seen it so many times that both my sister and I can tell you exactly what's happening just by listening to the film's score. But it is O'Rourke's plaintiff cry of "No more" towards the end of the movie that gets me every time. A terrific performance by an actress whose young life was cut much too short.

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Dakota Fanning for War of the Worlds: