The Smartest Horror Movie Heroes, Ranked

Horror movies often meet criticism for their protagonists and the usual point of contention lies within the main characters’ lack of resourcefulness. In short, horror movie characters aren’t known to be the brightest. While many jokes and parodies have made fun of this critique, especially in the Scary Movie franchise, it does not ring true for all horror heroes.

The cream of the crop of horror protagonists makes the best out of the worst situation. Whether it is a character using cotton to drown out the chimes of a hypnotic teacup to a sleep-deprived girl booby-trapping her house, these horror characters make sure to fight back with all their might. The smartest horror heroes of them all not only fight back but overcome their foes by assessing their situation, thinking on their feet, and remaining calm in the most dire of situations.

10 Sienna Shaw’s Valkyrie-Self Came Out on Top

Terrifier 2 introduced audiences to Sienna Shaw, a teenage girl predisposed to horrifying dreams of the infamous killer clown, Art. Art has been known to strike fear in the hearts of everyone around, and Sienna Shaw’s heart was no different. Despite her horrific dreams, there was also a prophetic air around her and Art that did not reveal itself until the end.

While the prophetic notions between Sienna and Art might work against Sienna as a smart character, her resilience and drive made her stand out above other horror protagonists. Sienna was able to come out on top, not because the stars aligned but because she kept her head during the tiresome showdown with Art.

9 The In-Laws Couldn’t Keep Grace Le Domas Down

Grace from Ready or Not was head over heels in love while simultaneously in over her head. Ready or Not started with the union between Grace and Alex and ended with a hefty amount of bloodshed. The Le Domas family had ties with a sinister force that required a sacrifice in the event a hide-and-seek card was drawn. Unfortunately for Grace, the hide-and-seek card reared its head and led to the family hunting her down.

After realizing the real type of danger she was in, Grace started to adapt. She would end up retaliating against the family, even her own husband, after he reveals he would rather harm her as a Le Domas than protect her as a husband. While Grace wasn’t the one to deliver the final blow to the family, her resourcefulness made it incredibly hard for the Le Domas family to get to her before their ticking timer ran out, and the devil came for his dues.

8 Empathy and Assessment Saved Joey’s Life

Abigail from Abigail was a deceptive vampiric creature. The kidnapping crew, the Rat Pack, fell for her child-like act, including Joey. While she was none-the-wiser at Abigail’s manipulations at first, Joey was one of the first to know who the rest of the Rat Pack were up against. After learning Abigail was a powerful vampire, Joey knew the rest of the crew had to approach the situation with caution.

Where characters like Frank, played by Dan Stevens, wanted to strike first and ask questions never, Joey wanted to assess the situation before acting. At the same time, Joey was able to connect with Abigail by being empathetic towards her. When Joey believed Abigail was a simple child, she treated her with respect. Even after Abigail’s true form was revealed, there was an air of respect Joey had for the vampire. Joey could tell when she could be beaten when she should hang up the towel, and when to lend a helping hand.

7 Ghostface Has Yet to Strike Sidney Down

Of all the iconic final girls and horror survivors, one of the most memorable is Sidney Prescott. Sidney has been hunted down by Ghostfaces for five movies, soon to be six, and has yet to be brought down. While there have been many unfortunate casualties in the Scream franchise, Sidney has been fortunate and intelligent enough to survive.

Sidney knows when to walk away and when to put up her dukes which is one of the reasons she has survived for so long. Sidney has past knowledge of all the other killers she has been unfortunate enough to face. But when it came to her first brush of horror, she survived because she wasn’t the victim Billy and Stu were expecting. Billy and Stu thought they could turn her into a horror movie casualty, but they weren’t taking into account that Sidney could think on her toes and flip the script against them.

6 Nancy Thompson Home Alone-d a Dream Demon

The first A Nightmare on Elm Street movie by Wes Craven had a band of characters, all experiencing nightmares of a man with knives on his fingers and a burnt face. Freddy Krueger was tormenting the kids whose parents burned him to death. He was doing this by supernatural invading the kids’ dreams and killing them in their sleep.

Nancy Thompson, the main character of the film, learned of Freddy and his intentions after many encounters with him in her dreams. After discovering that she could pull physical items out of her dreams in the same vein Freddy could harm her in them, she concocted a plan. Nancy pulled Freddy from the dreamscape and fought him on her own terms. While the film ends ambiguously, with Nancy once again in a nightmare, audiences know she was victorious after Nancy returned to the franchise in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

5 Mike Enslin Fought Against the Haunted Hotel Room

1408, a movie based on one of Stephen King’s short stories, is about Mike Enslin, a skeptic who investigates ghosts. Mike goes to different haunted locations and writes books about each spot despite not actually believing or experiencing what he writes about. After a mysterious invitation to stay at the Dolphin Hotel in room 1408, Mike jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately for Mike, the room was much more than he bargained for. Not only was Mike introduced to real supernatural terror, but he was also tortured by his own past within the confines of the room. The room was trying to make Mike end his own life through psychological torture, but he would proclaim that the room would not win. Mike scaled the building, traversed air ducts, and attempted contact with the outside world. In the end, the smartest action Mike took wasn’t his attempts at escaping but at fighting back, burning the room as an act of defiance against the horror he endured.

4 Survivalist Training Came in Handy For Erin

You’re Next was a thrilling tale about a family, the Davidsons, being attacked by masked individuals. These masked individuals were armed and dangerous and even booby-trapped parts of the house. While the threat of them was real, they weren’t ready for a person like Erin.

Erin had a past that involved survivalist training with her family. This meant that she was able to adapt to the dangers at hand and be a formidable ally to the family. With both her physical strength and mental prowess paired together, she made the intruders look like amateurs. Erin’s training resulted in her defeating the masked assailants and discovering her husband was the man who hired them.

3 Chris Secretly Drowned Out His Hypnotic Trigger

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut film, Get Out, had audiences enraptured by the story. The story was of Chris Washington meeting his girlfriend’s family only to discover that his girlfriend, Rose, and her family housed a dark secret. Where Chris assumed he would only meet prejudice about being in an interracial relationship, he was met with something much more sinister.

Rose’s family and friends kidnapped Chris so that they could put another man’s brain in his head. The family was able to subdue Chris by using hypnosis on him, leaving him paralyzed. However, Chris’ quick thinking led to his escape and survival. Chris tore open the chair he was strapped to and pulled out its cotton. After retrieving the cotton, Chris stuffed the material into his ears, muffling the hypnosis trigger Rose’s mother would use on him. Chris would escape and fight for his life to escape. Fortunately, Chris survived and was able to reunite with his friend, Rod.

2 Zoey Surprised the Game Master

In Escape Room, six characters were invited to an immersive escape room experience hosted by the company Minos. Unbeknownst to them, the escape room housed real danger. The six people had varying personalities and intelligence, but Zoey shined the brightest. In the face of impending doom, Zoey kept a level head and persevered.

Additionally, Zoey even surprised the Minos crew with her actions. In one of the escape rooms, Zoey opted out of playing by the games’ rules. She starts to destroy all the cameras in the room in the name of the Quantum Zeno Effect. Zoey expresses that the effect means that atoms don’t change if they are being watched, so she must take away the Game Master’s ability to observe the group. Zoey carves her own path to victory despite the odds being against her.

1 Believe It or Not, Ripley Bested the Aliens More Than Once

Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley has been in four different Alien movies. The Alien franchise features the monstrous and incredibly designed Xenomorphs and the parasitic vessels for thier birth, the arachnid-like Facehuggers. Ripley had been tormented by their existence since 2122 and had continued till 200 years later, when she was a clone.

Ripley was immensely resourceful and level-headed in the wake of the alien danger. Aliens houses one of the most iconic moments in the series, where Ripley uses a mech suit designed for maneuvering equipment to battle the Xenomorphs. Ripley was able to battle the aliens alone and still be triumphant. Even the clone of Ripley was just as resourceful as her real counterpart.