10 Horror Movie Heroes Who Became Smarter In The Sequel

In the first two Evil Dead movies, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is basically an everyman character thrust into an impossible situation and, all things considered, puts up a damn good fight against the Deadites.

You probably wouldn't call him exceptionally smart, but he's a capable survivor under the circumstances.

But by the time the third film, Army of Darkness, rolls around, Ash has undergone something of a personality transplant, transformed into a more cynical wise-cracker, as even filmmaker Sam Raimi himself admits is inconsistent with his established character.

Yet despite his inherent goofiness, Ash also becomes much smarter in Army of Darkness, putting his engineering degree to good use by using a Chemistry 101 textbook to create gunpowder, building a metal hand, and even converting his car into a steam-powered "Deathcoaster."

Ash obviously doesn't do all of this by himself, but his sheer ingenuity throughout the movie nevertheless shows a frankly ridiculous amount of critical thinking compared to the first two movies.