After all this waiting, it’s finally here! A while ago, I started a series ranting about the dumbest decisions that horror characters ever made. Now, it’s time to commend some of the smartest decisions that were made in the horror genre. These decisions played a major part in saving the protagonists lives. I hope you enjoy and let me know which decisions you felt were the smartest! (SPOILER ALERT!!!)

When Danny Tricked Jack – The Shining

Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) was a troubled boy forced to spend the winter season in the Overlook hotel with his parents. His father, Jack (Jack Nicholson) was hired to take care of the hotel while it was closed down. Soon a mixture of cabin fever and hauntings of the hotel started to drive Jack mad and murderous. While Jack chased him with an axe, Danny ran outside to the hotel’s large maze to escape him. Danny soon realized no matter where he ran, Jack would still be able to find him because of the footprints he was leaving in the snow. Danny had to think fast and he came up with a brilliant plan. He led his footprints in one direction of the maze, stepped backwards in his footprints, and hid where Jack couldn’t spot him. Jack fell for his trap as he passed right by Danny and went in the wrong direction, going deeper in the maze. Danny was able to then follow his footsteps out of the maze and escape the Overlook hotel with his mom.

When Frost Flipped The Table – From Dusk Till Dawn

The Titty-Twister was an absolute dream for bikers and truckers – an exclusive bar filled with booze and babes. However, the dream quickly turned into a nightmare as the proprietors of the bar were blood-thirsty vampires and these customers were their prime victims. Among the customers was Frost (Fred Williamson), a true force to be reckoned with. As the entire bar crowd was getting slaughtered, a few patrons had the brains to fight back. Without hesitation, Frost flipped over one of the tables and was able to throw four vampires onto the table legs that were sticking up. It was a very effective way to get rid of four vampires at once, and I believe it has earned its place in this series.

When Will Used Francis’ Trauma Against Him – Red Dragon

Retired FBI agent, Will Graham (Edward Norton) held a special gift that helped him get inside the heads of the serial killers he pursued. His retirement was soon cut short after a brutal and deranged maniac began slaughtering families. After a lengthy pursuit, it abruptly ended when the killer, Francis (Ralph Fiennes) killed himself and his house burned to the ground… or so they thought. When everyone found out that Francis was still alive, he was already in Will’s house, about to kill his son. While holding a piece of mirror to Will’s son’s throat, Francis told Will what he was going to do to his family. Will had to think fast and when he saw his son had wet himself out of fear, he realized he had all the ammo against Francis that he needed. He read everything about how he used to wet the bed and how his grandmother used to threaten to castrate him because of it. Will yelled at his son almost word for word what Francis heard his whole childhood. To save his family, he acted like the one person Francis really wanted to kill and it gave his son a chance to escape.

When Nicole Hung Up The Antlers – Lost Boys: The Tribe

Nicole (Autumn Reeser) and Chris Emerson (Tad Hilgenbrink) were down on their luck as they had to move to their aunt’s place in Luna Bay, California. What was an intended fresh start for the both of them quickly turned into mayhem as they were spotted by a new coven of vampires. While the siblings were touring their rundown “new” home, Chris spotted a set of deer antlers lying among the piles of junk. Nicole found them so amusing, she insisted on hanging them up on the wall. This may have been a dangerous decision in the beginning, but this seemingly unimportant decorating gesture ended up saving her brother’s life. When a sexy surfer groupie set her eyes on Chris, she followed him home to seduce and devour him. Things almost went her way, but Chris threw her off of him and she accidentally got impaled by the antlers. If Nicole never hung them up, Chris would’ve been killed or turned, and he never would’ve saved Nicole from being turned.