Best thriller movie stupidity of all time

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Scream picture

Stupidity: Wes is characterized as one of the more careful characters early on, buying both a stun gun and pepper spray. When he comes home after the meeting where the dangers of Ghostface were further laid out, he proceeds to set both his weapons down and takes a shower after his mom tells him he'll be alone in the house, which is exactly how Tara and countless victims of previous sprees were attacked. The fact he even lived through his shower is lucky enough.

Anson Gordon-Creed

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La Confidential picture

Stupidity: When White and Exley meet outside the motel and realise they've been set up, White suggests they leave, but Exley says it's too late. It wasn't even close to too late. There were no other people around, they had cars and there was a road right in front of them. Then they decide to go trap themselves inside the motel. It seems like they wanted to be shot.

MikeH

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Escape From New York picture

Stupidity: When the duke approaches the wall at the end, Snake dives on him and briefly knocks him out. Snake could have easily grabbed his gun back and left the duke unarmed (or even just killed the duke there and then), but just gets up and runs, leaving it with him.

Gavin Jackson

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Into the Storm picture

Stupidity: Four H.S. seniors are sitting in an SUV. A storm quickly intensifies and Billy gets out of the back seat to get a better look (wipers are on "fast"). Seconds later, Billy spots a tornado coming. Marcia (driver) tells Billy to "get in." Needing to flee the fast-approaching tornado, Marcia wants to leave as soon as Billy is in the SUV, so she yells, "Billy, get in!" The tornado is feet away when Billy closes the door - whew, he's safe! Marcia STARTS the SUV when the tornado starts bashing it. (00:01:14 - 00:01:38)

KeyZOid

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Heat picture

Stupidity: During the drive-in theater scene, Chris fires three high-caliber, well-placed rounds into the driver's side of the windshield of the truck, and the driver isn't hit. (00:51:20)

Snag.1

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The Boy Next Door picture

Stupidity: Noah loves the classics, he shows passion and interest in them, it's part of what wins over professor Jennifer Lopez. Witness this risible exchange, about Achilles; "He killed this guy, Hector. But instead of hiding out like a pussy, he..." "Dragged his dead body around for everybody to see." "Yes." The sheer dumbness of this exchange, especially the first statement, hurts the brain; why would a warrior 'hide out like a pussy' for killing an enemy during war?

Sammo

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Achilles killed Hector in an act of revenge, not an act of war. Hector was a beloved warrior and treating his corpse with disrespect could have insulted the Trojans. Knowing this, Achilles dragged Hector's body around the city in an act of boldness. So yes, instead of "hiding out" after killing his enemy, Achilles acted like a "badass", taunting the Trojans with his victory over their champion, disregarding any threat of reprisal. There's nothing stupid about this exchange.

BaconIsMyBFF

"Dude, there's this book about a Greek war with gods and heroes and sh*t: you know what, the main character kills his enemy in battle and doesn't hide out after! Like it's a war or something." What a stellar and perfectly not stupid pitch about the book! Makes totally sense and it obviously woos the college professor too! Mind you, I don't want to come across as sarcastic and I enjoy reading your comment, but the "not an act of war" objection is irrelevant when all the action happens in the battlefield, regardless of character motivations. Point is, the statement does not follow logic when it comes to pitching an epic fantasy book to a young adult, and on top of that, this fundamentally flawed series of statements is even painted as something totally impressing a college professor.Surely my flawed perspective of a snob living amongst snobs in a country where the study of classics is more widespread than the US, but blurting out something like that would get you a giggle at best.

Sammo

I think you're putting too much weight on the "not hiding out" part of Noah's statement and not enough weight on the defiance of Achilles, which is what Noah was saying he was impressed with. For this to be a stupid statement, it would have to be incorrect. It isn't incorrect. Noah describes exactly what happened. Sure, he uses a colloquial tone but all he's really saying is "Achilles kills Hector in a duel and rather than flee the battlefield afterwards, he parades Hector's corpse around the city to intimidate his enemies." You seem to be hung up on the "fleeing the battlefield" part, as if that is a reading of Achilles actions that is so off base it rises to the level of a mistake in the movie. I don't believe that to be the case. Also, this college professor is impressed by the fact a youth would read Homer on his own at all, and the fact that he's incredibly charming and handsome certainly doesn't hurt.

BaconIsMyBFF

I put weight on it because it sticks out: the line itself is designed to get attention using that colorful expression. Even as you paraphrased it with "Achilles kills Hector in a duel and rather than flee the battlefield afterwards" etc, the problem is not the tone: since when it's the go-to move in the genre, killing someone in a duel and then fleeing? I can't see why this would be a logical thing to say, so strongly even, to pitch the book to his friend! Like pitching a restaurant prefacing unironically that they do not spit in your food. His reading is not technically incorrect, or I would have put it in the 'character mistake' category, but mentioning what did (not) happen is daft and contrived. And yes, it is a dialogue that is supposed to reinforce that 'incredibly charming' quality you mention but it is written in such a childish way that undermines it, also considering that he told her he already studied Homer in his previous school and he is not exactly a kid.

Sammo

More The Boy Next Door stupidity
Gone Girl picture

Stupidity: When Amy tries to use the security cameras at Desi's house to make it look like he raped her, wouldn't the cops be curious as to why there was just one little scene - and not 30 days worth of footage? Wouldn't they question what happened to the rest of the footage (showing her being looked after by Desi and living comfortably), and why that little bit showing her crawling on the ground was left undeleted. Also she tied lace around her hands. Anyone could break material like that if they tried hard enough. Why would Desi risk that?

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Bangkok Dangerous picture

Stupidity: Joe's second homicide aims to be ruled as accidental death, but Joe's plan involves a furious struggle with the guy underwater, who claws and bites at his arm, as he applies pressure to his shoulder and neck. Moreover, their struggle happens close to the water surface but the bodyguard who is there does not hear or see anything. (00:35:00)

Sammo

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All Eyes picture

Stupidity: Don told Allen he'd have to wear a blindfold to his house because he didn't want Allen to know where he lived. Instead of having Allen ride in the cab where he could monitor him to make sure he didn't remove the blindfold, Don made Allen ride in the truck's bed (where Allen did lower the blindfold to use his cell phone). (00:14:24 - 00:17:00)

KeyZOid

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Sanctum picture

Stupidity: Spoiler alert. After the son makes it out, he could get a rescue team to get his dad by going in where he came out.

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Security picture

Stupidity: The villain has a couple dozen able men fully equipped with lights (plus vehicles, obviously), but instead of using them to run after the kid who has a minute tops head start on him and is running blindly in soaked mud fields on her little legs, he uses his manpower to clean up the road from blood, spikes and various other traces of the precise location of the shootout. Rather pointless move since the feds are gonna come anyway in the area because of the communication loss with the convoy, with a decent approximation of their position. It appears unbelievable that he would have his priorities so wrong and just leave the girl to run free like that.

Sammo

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Jurassic Hunt picture

Stupidity: A dinosaur spits a hot substance onto Tramp's right shoulder and Tramp says, "It burns." He is told to not touch it, but Tramp wipes it off with his left hand and holds his hand up to another hunter's face telling him, "Help me. Get it off!" (00:18:43)

KeyZOid

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Batman picture

Stupidity: If Batman can recognize Napier you'd think the police would, especially when he's wearing that flesh tone makeup during his public address.

Rob245

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Sleeping with the Enemy picture

Stupidity: When Laura goes back to the house to get her bag, she takes off her wedding ring and flushes it. Problem is, she knows how her husband is and doesn't take the time to make sure the ring goes down! But she makes sure there's no other trace of her being there (flushing her hair down the toilet and drying the floor off from her wet feet!).

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Crow Valley picture

Stupidity: David was seriously injured by Olivia a few times (e.g, hit by her car and on the head with a baseball bat). When Olivia went into the bedroom, David was able to knock over his chair, get a knife off the floor, and free himself from being duct-taped to the chair. David took the car keys but left the knife on the floor, even though he was weak and vulnerable and Olivia had previously chased and caught him. When David returned to the cabin, Olivia came in with the knife and keys. (01:02:55 - 01:09:49)

KeyZOid

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Firewall picture

Stupidity: After Jack's attempt to send a distress email to his colleague fails because his office computer has been hacked, he secretly attaches the camera pen to Janet to move unmonitored. If he wasn't willing to cooperate, why doesn't he just secretly write a distress message on a piece of paper and show it to a colleague?

Movielover1996

More Firewall stupidity

Stupidity: In the first murder, the victim is strangled, frontally and bare-handed, by a woman his size, and his only reaction throughout his agony and protests is to put his hands on hers. You gotta have no instinct of self-preservation whatsoever. (00:02:00)

Sammo

More Plot of Fear stupidity
Vacancy picture

Stupidity: Mason should have also removed the other gun he had in his office for display, or he could have removed the bullets from the guns. There is no reason he would have to use these guns for his victims, so it makes no sense to leave the other gun in his office or have them loaded with bullets.

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The Assignment picture

Stupidity: It seems dumb that the doctor didn't leave Frank with more women's clothes after the operation.

Rob245

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Kidnapping Stella picture

Stupidity: The kidnappers steal a silver Citroen van and take it to a junkyard to switch the plates. They steal plates off an older green color Asian type sedan and place them on the van. If the cops run the plates as they normally do random checks as they drive, those plates will not match that vehicle. They should have found the same make and color of Citroen van they stole and swapped plates for plates, the chances of the owner noticing are small. Now if the plates get run they match that vehicle. (00:00:38 - 00:01:18)

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