10 Horror Movie Heroes Who Made Everything Worse

The horror genre has always been rife with archetypes. Whether you're watching a slasher, a creature feature, or a sci-fi gorefest, there's bound to be characters who fit the mould of "the bully," "the creep," and "the sex-crazed teen."

But one stock character that comes packaged with nearly every horror movie is The Idiot. Whether there's a masked lunatic on the loose or a horde of zombies nearby, there's usually one moron who makes everything worse. In situations like this, it's up to the hero to keep everyone calm and come up with a plan to survive.

However, there are times where the protagonist is just as dumb as everybody else. When you see our knight in shining armour or the final girl awaken a great evil, get innocent people killed, or cause more harm than the villain, you question whether there's anything rattling around in their skull.

Now, I understand our ensemble needs to be a little stupid for the narrative to work - seriously, why doesn't anyone call the police when there's a serial killer in the area? - but considering these buffoons are meant to be heroes, it's a bit hard to suspend your disbelief.

Army of Darkness opens with our boomstick-blasting hero, Ash Williams, transported to medieval times. After consulting The Wise Man, Ash learns he can return to his timeline by retrieving the Necromonicon and uttering the words, "Klaatu barada nikto".

When he locates the book, Ash realises he has forgotten the last part of the enchantment. Out of desperation, Ash mumbles the phrase, hoping it will be close enough to trigger the spell. Instead, Ash's fumbling summons a malevolent doppelgänger called Evil Ash and a legion of Deadites.

As expected, Ash unites the citizens and leads them against the zombie legion, ultimately destroying them and his dark twin.

Even though Ash is hailed as a hero, it doesn't change the fact he unleashed Evil Ash's forces onto the world, because he couldn't remember three words. As such, Ash should be held somewhat accountable for anyone who died during battle.

Also, if those words were so important, why didn't he write them down? When Ash realised he couldn't remember the enchantment, why didn't he doublecheck with The Wise Man, instead of just trying to wing it?