I am currently in the initial stages of working on a project on films
about evil children.  I am starting from horror films, sometimes films
with supernatural explanations and sometimes scientific ones, in which
the central problem is an innocent-looking but actually deeply evil
child.  My points of departure are The Bad Seed and The Innocents,
then the 70's cycle around The Omen, and finally the more recent,
less horrifying comedies like the Problem Child films and the Home
Alone films, but also the thriller The Good Son.
I would appreciate it if the users of this list could suggest other
film titles, especially '50's and '70's horror films with this subject
matter.
My general question is:  why are children used to embody evil (or at
the very least, hyperbolic destructiveness) at these historical moments
and why is a supernatural explanation (or the horror genre) necessary?
I would be very grateful for any suggestions, which you can e-mail
to me personally or post to this list, in case people want to have a
more general discussion of the topic.
 
Thanks in advance.
Very sincerely,
Edward R. O'Neill, UCLA