10 Smart Decisions Made By Extremely Dumb Horror Movie Characters

There are certain personalities that have become staples in horror, including The Final Girl, the harbinger of doom, the creature, and the exposition-dumping scholar. But there's another archetype that no horror film should be complete without: the idiot.

This sort of character comes in many forms. That moron who refuses to take the threat seriously, no matter how credible it is. The cop who doesn't shoot the serial killer when they have the chance. The doofus that tells everyone to split up when monsters are nearby. Seriously, when has that plan ever worked? Unsurprisingly, these nitwits end up making things worse and getting innocent people killed.

But every once in a while, the bumbling buffoon has a moment of clarity and does something really clever. Evil Dead's Ash isn't a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but smart enough to survive every encounter with the Deadites. Ed from Shaun of the Dead is utterly clueless, but proves to be immensely helpful during the big showdown.

Sure, these dummies aren't going to win a Nobel Prize any time soon, but that doesn't mean they should be underestimated. They may be simple, slow, or borderline braindead, but these idiots had a bright idea or two when it counted.

Zombieland: Double Tap finds Columbus, Tallahassee, and Wichita thrown into another undead adventure, this time trying to track down Wichita's missing sister. The group's quest takes an unexpected turn straight away, when Columbus decides to take a super-hot survivor, Madison, along for the ride.

Despite the fact the ghoul-killing heroes need all the help they can get, Madison seems like the type of person who will end up getting everyone killed. This airhead is as dumb as a stump, never picks up on social skills, and doesn't understand how much danger they're in. When she claims the zombies are "more afraid of us than we are of them," Columbus' party are left gobsmacked. (Also, she doesn't know how binoculars work.)

So, when a horde of revenants charge towards Columbus' gag, the odds aren't in Madison's favour, since she's the only one without a gun. But not only does she survive, Madison stops a zombie dead in its tracks with pepper spray, moments before it chomps down on Wichita's neck.

Even though this so-called bimbo is pretty unhelpful throughout the journey, Wichita would've been dead-meat if it wasn't for Madison's intervention.