How ASTM F963-23 Assures Safety in Toys in Horror Movies

There is something irresistibly thrilling about watching a good horror movie around Halloween. Whether it is the creepy atmosphere, spine-chilling jump scares, or the unsettling tension that builds slowly over time, horror films captivate us. They use a perfect blend of visuals, sound, pacing, and props to trigger our deepest fears. If a horror movie incorporates children’s toys, such as dolls or puppets, the toys likely would need to meet ASTM F963-23 guidelines for safety, even when the film strives to make us and its characters feel unsafe.

ASTM F963-23: The Standard for Toy Safety

ASTM F963-23 is a mandatory U.S. safety standard for toys that minimizes hazards through rigorous testing. The standard covers any product intended for use in play by children, which includes board games, card games, blocks, dolls, costumes, and other play-related items. Its purpose is to assure that a child’s toy is safe for its intended use and reasonably foreseeable abuse. It tests for potential risks, including:

Mechanical hazards: Checking for sharp points, sharp edges, and small parts that could cause choking.
Chemical hazards: Restricting the use of harmful substances like lead and phthalates in toy materials.
Flammability: Evaluating materials to determine their potential for combustion.
Battery safety: Mandating that battery compartments are secure to prevent ingestion or overheating

You can learn more about in our blog post: ASTM F963-23: Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety.

How Can ASTM F963-23 Be Used in Horror Movies?

ASTM F963-23, which assures the safety and quality of consumer toys for use by children under 14 years of age, seems worlds apart from the menacing objects featured in horror movies. However, horror filmmakers often play with the concept of subverting the familiar, harmless, and the safe to create fear. Items that are typically harmless—like dolls, games, or children’s toys—are transformed into sources of terror in horror films. Behind these innocent objects like toys is the ASTM F963-23 standard, setting quality and safety requirements. This standard works to prevent the very hazards that horror films exploit for suspense.

Famous Horror Movies that Involve Toys

Horror movies featuring toys often tap into the uncanny fear of inanimate objects coming to life, with popular examples including the killer doll Chucky from the Child’s Play franchise, the demonic doll Annabelle in The Conjuring universe, killer dolls in Dolls and Puppet Master, and the animated AI doll M3GAN in M3GAN.

Horror Movies: The Dark Side of Toys

Horror movies weaponize the very safety features that ASTM F963-23 was designed to enforce. The horror genre exploits the uncanny feeling of something innocent being made evil, and toys are a perfect vessel for this subversion. Here are some common horror tropes that feature toys:

Uncanny valley: Horror dolls like Annabelle or the ventriloquist dummies in Dead Silence deliberately reside in the “uncanny valley,” appearing lifelike but unsettlingly artificial. This unnerving quality is exaggerated to maximize dread, turning the doll from a companion into a threat.
Sentience and autonomy: Killer toy movies like Child’s Play and M3GAN derive their terror from the object gaining malicious intelligence and agency.
Weaponized innocence: The toys in horror are often armed with tools that would never pass safety standards, such as the hook-handed puppet Blade in Puppet Master. Similarly, the menacing clown doll in Poltergeist has disturbingly elongated, menacing arms.
Hazardous materials: In the 2019 Child’s Play remake, Chucky is a high-tech doll whose programming is deliberately turned malevolent. This is a modern update of the horror toy trope, reflecting modern fears about technology rather than occultism, but still subverting the expectation of a safe product.