In any long-running film franchise, it's the elements that stay the same that become iconic. In horror movies, that's usually the baddie. So while you may not remember, for example, any of the victims from Nightmare on Elm Street 5, you damn well remember Freddy Krueger! Thus, when it comes to merchandising, it makes sense to go with the most recognisably elements. It's all fair enough, until someone designs cuddly toys based on serial killers. I can't quite decide whether these are awesome, or terrifying, but nonetheless, here are 10 baddies to cuddle up at night with:

10. Freddy Krueger
Nope, that wasn't a hypothetical example above: there really is a cuddly Freddy you can buy. He's, er, not very cute. Actually, he's quite scary, despite being a plush toy. How does that work?

9. Jaws
Don't most sensible people have a deep and abiding fear of sharks? The kind of fear that would stop you wanting to cuddle one? Just to make it worse, this particular cuddly shark plays the Jaws theme tune. Relaxing!

8. Ming the Merciless
Emperor Ming. The Merciless. Clue's in the name, isn't it? He's an evil dictator! How cuddly are dictators, usually? (He's cuter than Freddy, though, I'll give him that.)

7. Baby Cthulhu
Why is it that Lovecraft's fictional monster which was supposed to represent extreme evil and horror and general nastiness has come to be regarded so affectionately? Okay, I'm not made of stone, this is cute. Awwwww.

6. Alien facehugger
Getting back on track, though, this is terrifying. Even if you haven't seen Alien or don't recognise it, the bloody thing looks ... just ... urrrrghhh. Get it away!

5. Jason Voorhees
Now you can relive Freddy vs Jason from the safety of your own bed! ... No? No-one? Okay, then. Forget I spoke. *whistles*

4. The Black Death
Not from any particular movie, but this cute little fuzzy microbe was just begging to be on this list. This might be the perfect example of how you can make anything - even a plague that causes oozing boils - cute by applying fur and big shiny eyes. Awwww. (N.B. Along with being the cutest thing on this list, it's also the most deadly killer, with a kill count of over 25 million. Suck on that, Krueger!)

3. Chucky
Chucky gets this far up the list because the whole POINT of Chucky was that he was a kid's toy. He's a crazed, battered, murdering doll. And now you can own one! Er, that doesn't really seem like a good idea, does it? Does it come with guaranteed nightmares?

2. Saw puppet
Yeah, and this one seems like an even worse idea. That's on the verge of being seriously creepy. Sod it, that IS seriously creepy. If you go round someone's house and they've got one of these... well, I'm not sure it's a good idea, is all I'm saying.

1. Darth Vader
Possibly the ultimate screen badass: now cute, cuddly, and squishy! Let's forget all that genocide, and just snuggle. Awww.

More list madness:

28 Sequels Later: more films you didn't know were coming
23 TV shows heading to the big screen
13 videogames being made into films
7 shots horror filmmakers should never be allowed to use again
30 Upcoming Movie Sequels You Didn't Know About
10 most depressing movie endings

Movies archive at Den Of Geek
Interviews at Den Of Geek