The killer toy most commonly appears in film, where it dates back to Dead of Night (1945) and expands on earlier films such as The Great Gabbo (1929) and The Devil-Doll (1936). These early examples primarily featured ventriloquist dummies, with works featuring killer dolls developing in the 1960s through the 1980s.

Dolls is a 1987 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Ed Naha, and starring Stephen Lee, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Ian Patrick Williams, and Bunty Bailey.