This 7-year-old girl has no time for Disney princesses and loves dressing up as horror icons

It's every girl's dream to be a Disney princess. Well, not every girl. Certainly not Coral DeGraves. She is not your average 7-year-old girl that's into Disney movies. Coral is wild about horror movies and loves nothing more than cosplaying horror icons. Her mother Cheyenne knew Coral was inclined to the darker side of pop culture when she showed more interest in the main villain, Chucky, from the slasher film franchise Child’s Play. She was only a toddler then. Cheyenne encouraged her and has helped her cosplay over 60 iconic horror characters to date, according to Bored Panda.

“Coral has never really taken to princesses and other things in that realm,” said the 7-year-old’s mother, reported New York Post. “She doesn’t necessarily turn her nose up to princesses or fairy tales; she’s just never shown a distinct interest.” Her Instagram handle, @Kid_Dreadful, sums up the characters she loves to dress up as. The only thing that spooks the horror fanatic is gender norms. There has been the odd negative comment about helping a child this young cosplay with horror characters, but the positive comments far outweigh the negativity. "The reactions we receive vary across the board," said Coral's mother, Cheyenne.

"Most people are supportive and really get a kick out of what we create. Of course, there’s always going to be those who are negative. Fortunately, we don’t encounter much negativity," she added. Cheyenne added that most people can't understand that girls like scary things too! It's also reflected when they shop for costumes for kids. “When you shop for children’s Halloween costumes, the boys’ selection has skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and monsters, while the selection for girls is extremely limited on these styles. We know there are more girls out there with the same interests and want to show them that they can totally be the same cool, gruesome creatures," said Cheyenne. 

Some of the popular characters the Coral has cosplayed include Pennywise from IT, the Joker, and the Bride of Frankenstein. “While she loves all things horror and paranormal, she is just as much your regular animal-loving, adventure-seeking Girl Scout,” said Cheyenne. Cheyenne added that they both keep a list of characters to cosplay, regularly adding names to before Coral decides the characters she wants. "Lots of times it’s whatever Coral decides to choose first," said Cheyenne. "Our favorite part of costuming is seeing the finished piece put together for the first time with makeup and props. It’s the payoff of all of our hard work," said Cheyenne. She added that cosplay can take anywhere between 15 minutes to 20 hours, depending on the character and situation. They are now a regular at horror conventions.

They enjoy the process of dressing up. "Our favorite part of costuming is seeing the finished piece put together for the first time with makeup and props. It’s the payoff of all of our hard work," said Cheyenne. She started the Instagram page for her daughter to share with friends and family but the page has gone viral. Even though Coral watches and dresses up as horror characters, her parents often filter the kind of images she's allowed to access. The horror movie Exorcist is currently deemed inappropriate.