Game of Thrones
“Everyone is mine to torment!” This ruthless young ruler, the most objectionable person in all Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, returns for series four of Game of Thrones in April. A bastard in both senses, Joffrey is spoiled, sinister and sadistic – but invariably too cowardly to get his own hands dirty. His highlights reel includes large-scale infanticide, ripping out a songsmith’s tongue, tricking Sean Bean into slaying his own pet direwolf, using a prostitute for crossbow target practice and forcing his girlfriend, Sansa, to look upon her father’s severed head. Played by Irish actor Jack Gleeson as a cross between Draco Malfoy, Damien Thorn and Caligula, he’s a character that fans (and, it seems, the whole internet) love to hate Photograph: PR
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver’s 2003 Orange prize-winning novel, whose title has become much spoofed, is structured around mother Eva writing letters to her estranged husband in a bid to come to terms with the fact that their sociopathic son committed a school massacre. Obnoxious, cunning Kevin is obsessed with archery, kills his little sister’s pet rodents, half-blinds her with caustic drain cleaner and seems to loathe pretty much everyone – especially his mother, with whom he has an unsettlingly adversarial relationship. Despite its troubled development, the BBC-funded, Lynne Ramsay-directed 2011 film version was excellent, starring Tilda Swinton as Eva and Ezra Miller as Kevin Photograph: Moviestore/Rex Features
The Omen
This 1976 horror classic sees an American diplomat and his wife adopt a baby of unknown origin – who turns out to be the Antichrist, spawn of Satan and a jackal. Unlucky. His nanny hangs herself at his fifth birthday party (“Look at me, Damien! It’s all for you!”), he’s followed around by a sinister rottweiler and nasty accidents befall those who rumble Damien’s true identity. Child actor Harvey Stephens had his blond hair dyed black for the role and delivered a convincingly creepy performance, while barely saying a word. There were two sequels and a 2006 remake with the gimmicky release date of 6 June, or 6/6/6. See what they did there? Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive
Family Guy
The miniature supervillain of Seth MacFarlane’s animated sitcom makes Horrid Henry and Bart Simpson look like saints. Oval-headed one-year-old Stewart Gilligan Griffin has a sophisticated intelligence, a large vocabulary, ambiguous sexuality, prodigious engineering skills and, strangely for a Rhode Island resident, a slightly camp posh English accent (based on Rex Harrison’s in My Fair Lady). He’s obsessed with violence and matricide, mainly because his mum Lois (“Vile woman!”) keeps thwarting his evil schemes for world domination by blowing on his tummy, sitting him in front of Teletubbies or making him eat broccoli. Blast! Damn you all! Photograph: PR
Lord of the Flies
William Golding’s dystopian debut wasn’t a hit upon its initial 1954 publication but went on to become a bestseller and firm favourite in schools. It tells the story of a group of British boys marooned on an uninhabited island, who attempt to govern themselves with disastrous consequences, eventually descending to a primitive state. Jack is the head choirboy who appoints himself chief hunter, becomes consumed by blood-lust and, assisted by the sadistic Roger, gradually goes off the rails. Representing the basest aspects of human nature, Jack becomes power-crazed, forming his own tribe of face-painted “savages” and enacting murderous rituals. Poor Piggy Photograph: PR
The Good Son
Fresh from his career-defining turn in the family-friendly Home Alone films, Macaulay Culkin starred as a pint-sized sociopath Henry in this 1993 chiller – scripted by no less than Ian McEwan, who’d attracted Hollywood’s attention with his novel The Child in Time. Henry’s cousin Mark (Elijah Wood) comes to stay but soon discovers that this seemingly perfect son is only “good” at murder. He owns a crossbow that fires nails, causes a 10-car freeway pile-up and secretly killed his baby brother. The neatly contrived climax finds Henry’s mother forced to choose between the two boys as they both hang off a cliff. Because of the James Bulger case, it didn’t get a UK release Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar
The Wasp Factory
The unreliable narrator of Iain Banks’s 1984 debut is, according to his creator, “a normality-challenged teenage eccentric with severe violence issues”. On a Scottish island, 16-year-old Frank acts out twisted rituals of his own invention involving a clock face, wasps, catapults, pipe bombs, seagulls’ heads and “sacrifice poles”. It’s soon revealed that Frank has killed three other children. Meanwhile, his big brother Eric has escaped from a mental hospital and is heading home, leading to a twist ending, which we won’t spoil. Controversial for its depictions of animal cruelty, The Wasp Factory became a cult favourite and was turned into an opera last year (in which Frank was represented by three female singers), shortly before Banks’s death Photograph: Stephen Cummiskey
Children of the Corn
“And a child shall lead them…” Based on a short story by Stephen King (who also explored evil kids in Carrie, It and Pet Sematary), this 1984 hayseed horror flick centres around a cult of teenage bumpkins who ritually murder adults in their rural Nebraska town, while worshipping “He Who Walks Among the Rows” – a demonic entity who lives in the cornfields. They’re led by bloodthirsty preacher boy Isaac, played by John Franklin, whose eerily high-pitched voice was owing to growth hormone deficiency. Isaac eventually gets caught up in a deadly power struggle with his power-hungry deputy Malachi (Courtney Gains). The original spawned an increasingly schlocky straight-to-video franchise Photograph: PR
The Bad Seed
A girl’s got to be pretty dark for Nick Cave to name his backing band after her. In William March’s 1954 novel, adapted into a hit Broadway play and Oscar-nominated 1956 film, a blonde-pigtailed Shirley Temple-alike starts acting strangely after one of her classmates accidentally drowns at a school picnic. Except, of course, it wasn’t an accident and eight-year-old Rhoda killed him with her tap shoes. He isn’t her first victim, either. It turns out that Rhoda’s grandmother was a notorious serial killer named Bessie Denker (based on real-life murderer Belle Gunness) and the “bad seed” is in her genes. “Some people are just born evil,” one character observes Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
The Exorcist
“Your mother sucks cocks in hell!” Charming. William Friedkin’s infamous 1973 frightener, adapted by William Peter Blatty from his own novel, is often voted the best horror film of all time. Regan was a sweet 12-year-old when her body wasn’t being possessed by a foul-mouthed, manipulative demon. But when it was, she’d crawl like a spider, levitate, make the room ice cold, break out in boils, masturbate with a crucifix, spin her head right round, speak Latin, spew pea soup and yell profanities at priests. The film was so shocking, cinemas provided “spew bags”, while star Linda Blair received death threats and was protected by bodyguards for six months after its release Photograph: Everett/Rex Features
