Sometimes a doll on the cover symbolizes possessiveness (Possession) or general creepiness (The Doll Castle, Dark Companions). But in The Surrogate, an actual doll gleefully strangles humans, and the ghost kid of Somebody Come and Play lures children to their doom with a playroom full of gendered toys: dollhouses and play kitchens for girls, action figures and toy cars for boys. And in Keeper of the Children, it’s not just a teddy bear with an axe, but also a witch marionette, a mannequin with a golf club, and a scarecrow that gleefully murder humans.
