The part that gets you the most in horror movies isn’t necessarily the ghost or the monster. It’s the eerie expression of kids, if any. Like the devil child in Omen, or the demon child leader in Village of the Damned. There’s just something about kids in horror movies that send chills down our spine. Have you wondered how these kids turn out in real life? Let’s take a look at some of the famous kids in horror movies, and where are they now?
Danny Lloyd in The Shining
Thanks for Doctor Sleep, The Shining is back on our radar again. Remember the poor son of Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance in The Shining? Gifted with psychic abilities, he was utterly traumatised by events that happened in the hotel that the Torrances were staying in. The child actor who took on this challenging role of Danny, is incidentally also named Danny. Danny Lloyd was selected for the role thanks to his talent to concentrate for long periods of time, despite being only five years old.
Lloyd has actually never acted in another movie since The Shining, but he makes an appearance in Doctor Sleep, as a spectator at a baseball game. After The Shining, surprisingly, no big movie studios came knocking on his door, and he retreated to a peaceful life in the Midwest. Lloyd is now a biology professor at a community college in Kentucky, and lives with his wife and four children. Although he looks back at his experience in movie-making fondly, he has no regrets about giving it all up for a normal life.
The Twins in The Shining
The pair of creepy-looking girls did not even get five minutes of screen time in the movie, but they are deeply embedded in pop culture. They remain relevant even now, almost 30 years after the movie was released. Who can forget their chant of “Come play with us, Danny, forever and ever”?
Similar to Lloyd, the sisters did not pursue a career in acting. And in real life, they are not creepy at all. After the movie, which they made when they were around 11, the sisters resumed a normal life. Lisa Burns majored in Literature in college, while Louise Burns works as a microbiologist.
Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan
Orphan was Fuhrman’s first major film role. Her innocent little orphaned girl turned psychotic killer both frightened and impressed us. Since then, she has stuck to acting, appearing in a series of TV shows and shorts, most notably, in The Masters of Sex. She also appeared in a couple of movies, such as The Hunger Games (2012) as Clove, and Cell (2016) opposite Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack, She is also a voice actress, lending her voice to animated series and video games. Fuhrman also stars in the 2021 Escape Room sequel Tournament of Champions.
Jodelle Ferland in Silent Hill
Ferland was already acting in a number of TV shows before she starred in Silent Hill, at 12, playing the dual role of Sharon and Alessa. She followed that with yet another role in a horror movie- Case 39, with Renée Zellweger.
Since then Ferland has made a name for herself in horror and dark drama movies and TV series, with roles in The Tall Man, the Twilight Saga and The Cabin in the Woods.
Ty Simpkins in Insidious
Simpkins’ first role was actually in War of The Worlds, appearing as a 3-year-old boy. He jumped from that right into the poor possessed boy in Insidious. His character, Dalton Lambert, is a boy who fell into a coma, trapped there by evil spirits, and his parents must find all sorts of ways to free him.
Since then, Simpkins has appeared in both the second and third Insidious movies. Apart from that, he has also racked up quite a resume, appearing in movies and TV series. You might remember him as the boy in Iron Man 3, where he helped Tony Stark fix his suit in his garage. He also snagged a key role in 2015’s Jurassic World, as the younger of two brothers who visited the Jurassic World theme park where their aunt, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, works. Jurassic World was a bit hit that spawned a sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
