10 Horror Movie Heroes Who Became Smarter In The Sequel

Much like Sidney, Alien's Ellen Ripley is often held up as one of the smartest protagonists in the horror genre.

In the original Alien, Ripley sensibly errs on the side of caution after Kane (John Hurt) is attacked by a Facehugger, refusing to grant the crew entry back into the Nostromo due to quarantine regulations - that is, until she's overruled by Ash (Ian Holm).

She makes basically all the right decisions that are within her power, and when she's finally pulled out of stasis 57 years later in Aliens, she quickly proves that she's lost none of her smarts.

Even accepting that Ripley agrees to accompany the Colonial Marines to the Hadley's Hope colony at all, she's a decidedly more forceful and forthright character in the sequel, confirming her shrewdness with one simple line of dialogue:

"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

In the face of the other solutions suggested for dealing with the Xenomorph infestation, Ripley puts her prior knowledge of the creatures to good use by suggesting nothing short of levelling the entire area.

And it's absolutely the right call - albeit one that's derailed when the dropship's pilot is killed by one of the aliens. Boo.

All the same, Ripley herself doesn't put a single foot wrong, showing even greater combat awareness and self-preservation expertise than she did the first time around.