Objects with a sinister charge are a recurring engine of terror in contemporary horror cinema. In a recent overview, haunted-doll researcher Fiona Dodwell outlines how everyday items—from mirrors to music boxes—have been used to drive dread and narrative peril in films across the last decade and beyond.
Notable screen examples
- Oddity (2024) — Damien McCarthy’s supernatural drama centers on Darcy, a blind antique-shop owner played by Carolyn Bracken. Dodwell highlights the film’s use of haunted merchandise as both atmosphere and plot device as Darcy confronts grief and seeks revenge.
- The Possession (2012) — Directed by Ole Bornedal, the film draws on the lore of a so-called dybbuk box. The infamous real-life auctioned box allegedly contained items such as hair, a dried flower, pennies, a slab of granite and a cup, and its tale inspired the movie’s depiction of escalating misfortune.
- Oculus (2013) — Co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan, this tale of a haunted mirror follows siblings who try to unmask the malevolent intelligence behind a reflective object that has blighted their family.
- Wish Upon (2017) — John R. Leonetti’s film turns a music box into a wish-granting mechanism with deadly consequences: each granted wish is accompanied by the death of someone close to the wisher.
- Obsession — Dodwell cites this contemporary title as a prominent example of a wish-based object unleashing terrifying outcomes for its characters.
Dodwell, who conducted interviews with figures including Don Mancini while researching her book A Cursed Collection of Haunted Dolls (Llewellyn, 2025), argues that the unnerving potency of haunted items lies in their ordinariness. Unlike overtly supernatural settings, cursed-object stories suggest anyone could stumble upon a vessel of harm—through an estate sale, a thrift-store find or an antique purchase—making the threat feel immediate and plausible.
From mirrors that are treated like occult portals to dolls and boxes with alleged histories of misfortune, these films exploit the personal intimacy of possessions to create suspense. For collectors and fans of cinematic scares alike, Dodwell’s survey underscores why haunted items remain a durable and frightening subgenre.
Source: Dread Central — Horror’s Scariest Cursed Objects: A History