10 Horror Movie Heroes Who Became Smarter In The Sequel
These heroes all got a serious intelligence upgrade.
One of the most important aspects of any movie sequel is staying true to the returning characters, to ensure that they're presented in a way that's consistent with their prior portrayal and makes total sense moving forward.
It's of course expected that characters will evolve throughout a series, but fans don't take kindly when their beloved heroes become dumber or start acting out of character in later installments. It's almost never, ever satisfying to watch.
Thankfully that wasn't the case with these 10 horror movie heroes, each of whom only got smarter in the sequel.
These heroes, whether all-timer franchise protagonists or plucky supporting heroes, were all proven to possess The Stuff in the sequel - the combat readiness, self-preservation instinct, and all-around good common sense to learn from their experiences the first time and act accordingly.
While so many sequels see returning characters get quickly killed off in a deeply stupid way that proves wildly unsatisfying, these heroes - whether they actually made it to the end or not - all proved they'd learned something from their initial fateful encounter...
10. Laurie Strode - Halloween (2018)
As iconic as Halloween's Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is in John Carpenter's original 1978 movie, she nevertheless makes some pretty severe mistakes while battling Michael Myers (Nick Castle).
Namely, she drops Michael's knife twice in the movie's climax, and is ultimately only spared thanks to a last-second assist from a gun-totting Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence).
Now, ignoring the many decanonised Halloween sequels, when we catch up with Laurie once again in 2018's follow-up, Laurie is decidedly more prepared to fend off Michael (James Jude Courtney).
Though unquestionably racked with PTSD, Laurie has spent 40 years readying herself for the inevitability of Michael breaking out of Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital.
She's trained herself to handle firearms, is decidedly more adept at close-quarters combat, and has built a fortified fortress of a house complete with gated doorways and a panic room basement.
Her ultimate plan to trap and burn Michael to death inside her house is far smarter than anything the wildly unprepared Laurie could understandably come up with in the original film, that's for sure.
It's just a shame the fire department rushed to the blaze at the start of Halloween Kills and liberated him before he could burn to cinders.