Why are People in Horror Movies So Stupid?

Sarah C. Schafer
10 min readJan 29, 2020

Here are two good reasons, one bad reason, and some advice for horror writers.

Image Source: Gordon Johnson / Pixabay

Dumb decisions are a mainstay in the horror genre, just like the meet-cute in romance, an alcoholic detective in noir, and “discovering powers you never knew you had” in a fantasy-adventure. Not all horror movies have dumb decisions, but they are no surprise whenever they turn up, although they are never welcome. Too many stupid choices leave the audience screaming at the characters, “Don’t drop that weapon!” “Why do you keep falling?” “Don’t check if he’s dead; just shoot him again!” “Just move out of the house!” and of course, the “Stop asking if anyone’s home! THE MURDERER IS HOME!”

Stupid actions can ruin the audience’s suspension of disbelief, which has a twisted sort of logic. We’ll believe haunted paintings, demented dolls, and slimy goo monsters, but when a person doesn’t check behind the shower curtain… man, that’s so unrealistic.

This brings us to the first of three explanations why horror movie characters do dumb things:

Reason 1: They don’t know they’re in a horror movie

Genres classify movies based on their tropes and story elements. In basic terms, if it’s got magic, it’s fantasy; if it’s got advanced technology, it’s sci-fi; if it’s funny, it’s…

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Sarah C. Schafer

I’m a freelance writer/editor with too many novels in progress. I also write short stories and essays. See more of my work on sarahschaferwrites.com