Why are ventriloquist dummies such a frequent horror trope? Maybe it's because we loved puppets as kids, and every innocent thing we loved back then could be made to terrify us as adults with the simplest modification. Here’s an example: Think of any nursery rhyme. Now, sing it slooooowly.Â
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
Cause that's the way the teddy bears have their picnic.
Another part of it is aesthetics and construction. A killer hand puppet could never drive a serious horror film. Felt is just too floppy to be terrifying. But a wooden dummy that is just inherently off-putting? Now there’s something we can work with!
Part of the appeal of ventriloquist dummies is that we can't take our eyes off of them. Their bodies make them look like they’d be easy to take on in a fight, but their heads make them look like they’d be impossible to destroy. They have those large eyes that could not only follow you around the room, but also peer into the darkest recesses of your soul. Their mouths are locked in a perpetual forced smile that inspires fear, not laughter.Â
It also doesn’t help that every ventriloquist constructs their act so the dummy is always in control. That’s why they typically break out a different puppet every ten minutes or so. Any longer than that, the audience will stop paying attention to the puppet and start staring at the ventriloquist instead. In short, if you're overshadowing the dummy, you're in trouble.