From 'Chucky' to 'Barbie,' Here are the Most Iconic Movie Dolls of All Time

It’s Barbie’s world and we’re all just living in it (and that’s OK). Since the new Barbie movie was first announced, hype has been steadily building for the Greta Gerwig-directed flick, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken. The film pays homage to Barbie’s long-lasting legacy and place in the world, featuring many callbacks to Mattel’s early Barbie iterations. But Barbie isn’t the only doll to grace our screens in a memorable way. Dolls have been appearing as central figures in film for decades now (Barbie herself first appeared in 2001) and occupy a dynamic place in pop culture. From R-rated horror to tamer (but just as entertaining) children’s movies, dolls have never been beholden to one genre or audience.

In celebration of the release of Barbie, here are the most iconic movie dolls of all time in chronological order—from the beloved toys of our youth to the dolls of our nightmares.

Related: ‘Barbie’ (2023) Movie Release Date, Cast, Trailer and More

Most iconic movie dolls of all time

Clown Doll — Poltergeist (1982)

Many of the ‘80s doll entries air on the creepy side, thanks in no small part to the decade’s horror boom. Poltergeist (1982), which follows a suburban family haunted by ghosts, helped kick off the phenomenon. While the movie is full of scares, the most memorable part comes from a brief appearance by the son’s Clown Doll, which sits menacingly in a chair by the foot of the boy’s bed. When he is wakes up and find’s the clown not in its seat, he checks under the bed, only to find nothing there. With the anticipated jump scare seemingly diffused, he sits back up and is attacked by the doll, which has been inhabited by a spirit. The clown doll's brief appearance is often regarded as one of the great scares in horror history.

Mr. Punch — Dolls (1987)

In Dolls (1987), a group of people are stranded at a mansion during a storm. In their attempt to take refuge, they meet the owners of the mansion, who claim to be toy makers. It’s fitting, since the house is filled with dolls and puppets, but things take an eerie turn when the dolls begin to turn on the guests and are revealed to contain the imprisoned spirits of criminals. The star of the dolls is Mr. Punch, inspired by the traditional Punch and Judy puppets, who is given to young Judy and attacks her awful father. Punch and the other puppets deserve a bit of credit for only taking out the bad people and leaving the pure of heart alone.

Chucky — Child's Play (1988)

Chucky has managed to become one of the most enduring movie dolls of all time, with a wide-spanning franchise that kicked off with Child’s Play (1988) and has extended into six sequels, a reboot, and a recent TV series. In the first movie, a dying murderer transfers his soul into a “Good Guy” doll called Chucky, which is gifted to a young boy named Andy. When Chucky kills a babysitter, resulting in Andy’s institutionalization, his mother must race against the clock to convince detectives that the doll comes to life and has a murderous streak. Chucky’s cult-like following has only grown throughout the years, due mostly to the Child’s Play franchise’s combination of genuinely terrifying films and pulpy horror-comedy installments.

Related: The 151 Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked

Woody and Buzz Lightyear — Toy Story (1995)

The ‘90s brought with it a slightly gentler take on dolls, geared more toward children but still beloved by all. In Toy Story (1995), Woody the cowboy leads a group of toys that come alive when their owner, young Andy, isn’t looking. When Andy gets a new toy for his birthday, a Buzz Lightyear astronaut figure, Woody’s world is turned upside down. Buzz, not recognizing that he is a toy and under the impression that he’s a real astronaut, quickly becomes Andy’s favorite and throws off the carefully curated ecosystem. When Woody and Buzz become stranded ahead of Andy’s family’s big move, they must work together to reunite with their human.

Jessie — Toy Story 2 (1996)

Woody and Buzz’s peaceful co-existence is disrupted in Toy Story 2 (1999) when Woody is stolen from Andy’s home by a toy dealer. After getting fixed up by the toy dealer, Woody meets Jessie the cowgirl, and learns that they come from a popular 1950s TV show called Woody’s Roundup. The pair, along with a horse toy named Bullseye, are collectables wanted in Japan. As Buzz and the other toys struggle to rescue Woody, Jessie sings a devastating song about her human losing interest in her. Woody fears that Andy will do the same and initially opts to go to Japan, rather than go home with Buzz and the others. Although he ultimately has a change of heart, the movie again becomes a rescue mission, this time for Jessie, who proves to be one of the best additions to the Toy Story gang.

Eve — Life-Size (2000)

Barbie isn’t the first popular doll to come to life in live-action. In Life-Size (2000), grieving Casey (played by a young Lindsay Lohan) attempts to bring her late mother back to life via incantation. Thanks to a hairbrush mishap, she accidentally brings her Barbie-like doll (from a company called Marathon Toys, a fictional comparison to Mattel) to life instead. Eve, the doll (portrayed by Tyra Banks), and Casey get off to a rocky start, but eventually form a friendship. Positive and sporting a larger-than-life personality, Eve attempts to learn how to be a human but comes to realize that she ultimately misses home.

Billy the Puppet — Saw (2004)

In the grand scheme of the Saw franchise, Billy is a small player (even his name is never revealed throughout the movies; instead, it was identified by the creative team in behind-the-scenes interviews). First introduced by James Wan and Leigh Whannell in Saw (2004) as the face that Jigsaw’s victims receive their instructions from, the creepy puppet has become one of the most symbolic figures of the Saw franchise. Billy the Puppet is usually seen on video, but he also appears on a menacing tricycle.

Anneliese and Erika — Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004)

This year’s Barbie comes on the heels of more than two decades of animated Barbie movies from Mattel, in which Barbie either stars as herself or plays other characters (for the latter, the films often feature mid-credits blooper sequences in which Barbie breaks character). Nothing quite compares to Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004), wherein Barbie pulls double duty as Princess Anneliese and commoner Erika, two identical women leading disparate lives. The whole movie is filled with epic original music, giving Anneliese and Erika (and Barbie, in a way) a chance to show their talents.

(Other) Billy — Dead Silence (2007)

Another Billy from Wan and Whannell, this one takes on a slightly more central role in Dead Silence (2007). Billy is a ventriloquist's dummy gifted to a young couple, who quickly hit a tragic end. When the wife is killed and the husband is suspected of committing the crime, the sinister truth behind Billy comes into clarity. He is one of the many dolls of Mary Shaw, a murdered ventriloquist, who was buried with her doll collection. With all of the dolls dug up, Billy is just one of many that appear to be doing some of Mary’s bidding.

Bianca — Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Before he was Ken in love with Barbie, Ryan Gosling was Lars in love with Bianca. In Lars and the Real Girl, Gosling plays a man in love with an anatomically-correct sex doll named Bianca. Slightly emotionally stunted but still well-meaning, Lars’ love for Bianca isn’t sexual but is still rooted in romance. While the people in Lars’ town (and audiences) just see Bianca as a doll, she is Lars’ whole world and they do their best to humor him and treat her as a real person. Without ever coming to life, Bianca slowly allows Lars to heal his inner trauma.

Related: Fans Rally Behind 'Just Ken' in Ryan Gosling's Music Video

Coraline Doll — Coraline (2009)

Coraline (2009) is the rare film that is both horrific and technically for children. The movie follows the eponymous Coraline, who receives a spooky little doll that looks just like her, which leads her to find a parallel world through a small doorway in her home. There, she meets Other Mother and Other Father, versions of her parents (with spooky buttons for eyes) who give her everything she wants. As her time in the parallel world grows increasingly spooky, she learns that the figure parading as her Other Mother created the doll to lure the girl to her. A rag doll with no lines, the toy plays a remarkably haunting and influential role in the film.

Annabelle — The Conjuring (2013)

In the decade since the release of The Conjuring (2013), Annabelle has become one of the most iconic parts of horror doll history. That’s pretty impressive, considering that Annabelle isn’t even the central antagonist in the main Conjuring movies (she has her time in the spotlight during the three Annabelle spinoff films). The doll is inspired by a real-life allegedly haunted doll, which looks more like a Raggedy Ann, and supposedly contains a malicious spirit masquerading as a little girl named Annabelle. This one is another James Wan creation, proving that he truly understands the allure of the haunted doll.

Brahms — The Boy (2016)

One of the more recent entries into the creepy doll canon is Brahms, who first appeared in The Boy (2016). In the film, a nanny is hired by a couple to watch their life-size porcelain doll, Brahms, while they’re away. Their real son, also named Brahms, was killed in a fire long before, and they treat the doll as if he is real. The doll, of course, begins to move when the nanny isn’t in the room, among other menacing details, and it becomes clear that the real Brahms’ spirit has inhabited his porcelain lookalike.

The Women of Marwen — Welcome to Marwen (2018)

The highlight of Welcome to Marwen (2018), a movie about a man who constructs a fictional village with dolls after suffering a brutal attack in real life, are the women of Marwen. Based on Barbie-like fashion dolls that look a lot like real women in Mark’s (played by Steve Carell) life (including Leslie Mann, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monáe, and Eiza González), the dolls represent a tribe of protectors that look after the man. The gun toting warrior women take care of Mark and offer him a small-scale world that he can escape to as he has to contend with his reality.

M3GAN — M3GAN (2023)

One of the most delightful surprises of the year was M3GAN (2023), which James Wan also had a hand in. In it, an AI doll named M3GAN is developed for childhood companionship by a programmer who recently adopted her orphaned niece. When the M3GAN prototype and her niece are introduced, they form a close bond, which proves difficult as M3GAN begins to develop a mind (and devotion) of her own. Dancing, singing 2011 hit songs, and murdering in cold blood are just some of the attributes that help make M3GAN a campy horror-comedy icon.

Barbie — Barbie (2023)

In the 64 years since Barbie was first unveiled at the New York Toy Fair, she has become synonymous with the word “doll.” No other toy has had quite the same lasting impact on popular culture, so the hype around Barbie (2023) should come as no surprise. The film features all sorts of Barbie dolls, from historic and controversial friends like pregnant Midge to the many, many Kens of the world. But above all it cements Barbie, who is going through an existential crisis in Barbieland and travels to the human world on a journey of self-discovery, as the most important doll of all time.

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