Hollywood's evil children

They're cute, but when their eyes glow, people die. The horror film "Orphan" is a recent example of moviemakers' fascination with evil children, whose adorableness is usually inversely proportional to the film's body count.

"The Bad Seed"

One of the baddest of all child villains was played by Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed" (1956), whose angelic face hides the heart of a murderer. Pity the poor adults snookered by her sweet talk! McCormick repeated her stage success and copped an Oscar nomination, but thanks to the Motion Picture Production Code, this homicidal child meets a very different end in the movie version.

The Better to See You With

In the classic British shocker "Village of the Damned" (1960), a strange malady befalls a small English town, which soon sprouts a population of telepathic children with penetrating eyes and no conscience. The kids proved too unsettling for British censors -- the glowing eyes of the children, optically added, were cut from U.K. prints.

Little Terror

Jerome Bixby's short story "It's a Good Life," about a child whose supernatural powers terrorize a small farm town's remaining inhabitants, became a classic "Twilight Zone" episode with Billy Mumy, and was remade in the 1983 film with Jeremy Licht.

Youth Cult

In Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," a rural town has been taken over by zealous kids who follow a supernatural figure referred to as He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Isaac (John Franklin, left) and Malachai (Courtney Gains) clash for control, but Isaac wins the creepiness contest hands down.

The Devil You Say

Yes, even the Antichrist, the most reviled character in the universe, started out as a cute baby. But cuteness wears off after nannies, caretakers and the curious start dropping like flies in the most gruesome ways imaginable in the 1976 hit "The Omen." Convinced the prophecy of the Beast refers to his adopted son, Gregory Peck tries to prevent Satan's ascension to power, but the Devil has more luck.

Last Embrace

Who could resist a child's hug? Well, after a nuclear waste cloud envelops a school bus in the 1980 flick "The Children," kids are turned into zombie-like creatures whose hugs can turn the unwary recipient into a smoldering pile of goo. If only real kids hugged parents as often as they do here.

Prophets of Doom

"Come play with us . . . forever and ever and ever." The Grady Twins were not themselves evil, merely the unfortunate victims of their deranged father's axe. But their ghostly appearance in "The Shining" was an ominous foretelling of the evil that resided at the Overlook Hotel.

Sibling Rivalries

Macaulay Culkin went from playing an adorable, empathic tyke in "Home Alone" to a psychopathic boy pretending to be an adorable, empathic tyke in "The Good Son" (1993). In "Joshua" (2007), Jacob Kogan greets a newly-arrived infant with less than open arms. Even if the baby survives, the family pets fare less well.

The Newcomer

After losing a child during pregnancy, a young couple adopts a little girl from an orphanage. But strange events begin to occur around Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), whose admission "I guess I'm different" couldn't be more of an understatement in the film "Orphan." Kids plummet, cars roll in reverse, and mysterious fires erupt.

... But she looks so sweet!

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan