10 Slasher Horror Movie Characters Who Were Seconds Away From Surviving

This lot are too dumb to live.

By James Egan /

When you're in mortal danger, it's natural to go into fight-or-flight mode. If you see something hazardous coming towards you, your reflexes will make you duck or jump out of the way.

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However, instincts like this don't always happen in the world of horror movies. In a zombie flick or a slasher, there are people who respond to imminent danger by performing the worst survival instinct - absolutely nothing.

And this isn't a 'deer in headlights' scenario where the victim is too shocked to respond to the threat. Like the security guard in Austin Powers who refused to move away from the approaching steamroller, some characters do nothing to evade danger. When you can see a knife coming at you, screaming helplessly while standing motionless isn't going to help. If you see an elevator descending towards you at a snail's pace, why wouldn't you get out of the way? Since these people clearly have the survival instincts of lemmings, you question how they stayed alive as long as they did.

Even though horror movies are filled with stupid characters doing stupid things, this lot are unquestionably the dumbest.

10. Dr. Ardmore - Child's Play

Child's Play opens with a murderer called Chucky transferring his soul into a doll to cheat death. (As you do.) A young widow called Karen comes into possession of the doll and gives it to her son, Andy. Unable to control his murderous compulsion, Chucky kills again in his new body, starting with Karen's friend, Maggie.

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Even though Andy tries to warn people that "Chucky did it", nobody believes him and he's sent to a psychiatric hospital. While the doctors perform tests on Andy to gauge his mental stability, Chucky stabs the psychiatrist, Dr Ardmore, with a scalpel. While he lies wounded on the ground, Chucky places an electroshock device on the doctor's head. The demonic doll then sets the electroshock machine to full power, frying Ardmore's skull until blood gushes out of his mouth and eyes.

However, Ardmore could've avoided meeting his maker if he just pulled the device off his head. It wasn't strapped on so he could've whipped it off in less than a second. Since he failed to act, Ardmore only has himself to blame for his demise.

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