On January 6th, the much anticipated M3GAN comes to theaters. The latest release from Blumhouse, about a young girl (Violet McGraw) who is gifted a lifelike, A.I. doll by her aunt (Allison Williams) looks to be a bonkers house of horrors when the overprotective creation begins to run amok and turn on the humans.

It’s another in a long list of doll-related horror films released not just recently, but from decades past. There is something forever creepy about a toy that looks so human, with knowing studios using audiences as an easy target for their films. From black-and-white pictures, to anthology segments, to features filled with blood and gore, here are the best scary doll movies to watch before M3GAN scares you all over again.

Dead of Night (1945)

This black-and-white British horror anthology tells several tales, all hinged around a group of people gathered at a cottage telling stories. The best segment, “The Ventriloquist Dummy,” centers on just that. Michael Redgrave stars as Maxwell Frere, a ventriloquist who believes that his dummy, Hugo, is alive. Redgrave is phenomenal in this intense short film, as we watch him emotionally breakdown. Throughout, we wonder if Maxwell is simply crazy, or maybe, just maybe, the dummy truly is alive. The way the dummy speaks through the ventriloquist is truly creepy. The ending is one you’ll never forget, and apparently Alfred Hitchcock didn’t forget either, because it would be very similar to the shocking finale of his most famous film, Psycho.

Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Thirty years later comes another anthology segment where the most memorable story involves a doll. This time, there’s no question of if it’s real or not. This doll is very much alive and out to kill. This made-for-TV ABC Movie of the Week is talked about for one reason, the last story, “Amelia.” The late Karen Black stars as the titular character, and on a fascinating note, she is actually the only human character in the entire segment. Based on a story by Richard Matheson, it is a simple and effective one. Amelia buys a small Zuni warrior doll that just so happens to have the warrior’s soul trapped inside. The entire segment is the doll chasing Amelia around her apartment. From its macabre look to the sounds it makes, this is an action filled gem that will make you shiver.

Magic (1978)

Based on William Goldman’s novel, directed by Richard Attenborough, and starring Anthony Hopkins, and Ann-Margaret, this one sees Hopkins as a ventriloquist named Corky Withers. With his dummy, Fats, Withers becomes a success. When Ann-Margaret’s Peggy Ann Show enters the picture as a love interest for Corky, Fats becomes jealous. Similar to Dead of Night, we watch a mentally unstable man who communicates with his doll and talks back in his voice. The question is again asked: is the dummy alive? Even without the dummy, we have a great character study about the descent into madness. Add in Fats, and his incredibly eerie design, and you have a film that stays with you long after it’s over.

Dolls (1987)

This became a popular 80s horror movie just from its effective poster alone, in which a doll is seen holding its own plucked out eyes that look at us. The tagline reveals all: “They walk. They talk. They kill.” Stuart Gordon directed this movie about a group of people who take shelter in a large home during a storm. It just so happens that it’s the home of a doll maker with a collection that’s possessed by the spirits of criminals. What sets this film apart from other earlier works is its use of stop-motion. In Trilogy of Terror, we get a puppet with very limited movement and range of emotion. Here you do watch those dolls actually walk and talk, and yes, kill. Its low budget and subpar acting holds it back from being a classic, but make no mistake, these dolls are as scary as it gets.

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Child’s Play (1988)

This is the most famous of the scary doll movies by far. Everyone, even non horror fans, knows who Chucky is. The foul mouth killer doll has been in a plethora of films and now, thirty plus years later, stars in his own series, Chucky. While he has become more of a comedic and meta character, in the beginning he was nothing but pure nightmare fuel. Directed by Tom Holland of Fright Night fame, and starring Brad Dourif as the voice of the killer doll, this movie is not just a clever premise, but a fun ride thanks to a well written story and some great acting by young Alex Vincent. What puts it over the top was how effective Chucky’s look was, thanks to the very realistic robot work created by Kevin Yagher.

Puppet Master (1989)

With a whopping fifteen films under its belt, the franchise has gotten outlandish and hokey, but the original has a rather interesting plot. In 1939, a Jewish puppet maker named Andrė Toulon (William Hickey), hides his creations in a hotel before killing himself to avoid being captured by the Nazis. Fast-forward fifty years later, and a group of magicians shows up at the hotel where Toulon’s creations have come to life to kill, with a new master controlling them. The best part of the movie is the doll designs and how they interact within the movie. Here we don’t just have one doll, but a whole series of them with vastly different designs, from Pinhead (no, not that Pinhead), Jester, Tunneler, and the knife handed Blade.

Dolly Dearest (1991)

Upon its release, this one was dismissed as another Child’s Play clone, and while there might be some truth to that, as this isn’t the greatest of the killer doll genre, there is still great fun to be had. The plot is basic enough, with an unleashed evil spirit finding a home inside a child's doll called Dolly Dearest. It’s not a great movie from the perspective of a story, but it’s still one of the scarier entries of the genre, and worthy of this list, simply from the fear factor presented by the doll itself. There’s no doubt that she’s disturbing, and though the robotic work isn’t as great as Chucky, that’s part of what makes it work, by being lifelike yet off-kilter. This movie certainly gave many kids nightmares during the early 1990s.

Dead Silence (2007)

Coming off the massive success of Saw in 2004, James Wan followed it up with another horror film, working again to write it with Leigh Whannell. While it couldn’t live up to the hype of Wan’s previous movie, this one has become a cult favorite. Starring Ryan Kwaten, just before his run on True Blood, his character, Jamie Ashen, is looking to figure out the circumstances behind his wife’s murder, who died after getting a creepy ventriloquist's dummy named Billy. It’s linked to a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw, who was murdered and had her body turned into a doll itself. Not everything connects, but it’s still remembered today for being an entertaining thriller filled with both the supernatural and terrifying imagery surrounding the film’s myriad of freaky looking dolls.

The Boy (2016)

Lauren Cohan of The Walking Dead acclaim was the lead, as a nanny named Greta Evans who is hired to take care of a wealthy and aging couple’s son. The catch is that their “son” is actually a child sized porcelain doll named Brahms, the same name as their actual son who died when he was still a child. Brahms is a more subdued scary doll. Even though you’re waiting for it, there are no scenes of the doll coming to life, walking, talking, and killing. The truth behind Brahms gives us a shocking twist of an ending, but even before that the film is terrifying thanks to Brahms' simple design. He doesn’t look intentionally scary with an exaggerated face. It’s how innocent and childlike he looks, to the point of seeming as if he could blink and take a breath at any moment, that makes him so chilling.

Annabelle: Creation (2017)

The Annabelle doll has been a part of pop culture for years now thanks to its introduction in The Conjuring, another James Wan movie. The doll was spun off into its own feature film, Annabelle, in 2014, but it was a commercial dud that was seen as being made for profit alone, in the absence of a good story. The followup by director David F. Sandberg was a surprise that gave fans a well done story to go along with the doll. In doing so, it took Annabelle from being a simple creepy-looking possessed doll into something that was actually frightening. Annabelle is the most well known scary movie doll outside of Chucky, even though she doesn’t speak and move like he does. It’s her look, a child’s doll that comes across as possessed just from putting your eyes on it, the mythology established behind her, and the fact that she is based on an actual doll that was kept by the real life Ed and Lorraine Warren, that has made her such an enduring presence in film.