Characters in horror movies spend the majority of their screen time doing inadvisable things, which is a genre formula designed primarily for the designated "good guys" in the scenarios playing out before us.
Fans of horror usually have no problem watching maniacs slice and dice co-eds, or dance through fields wearing a face mask made out of human skin while waving a chainsaw in the air with all the joy of Christmas day. These characters are doing what they're supposed to be doing — what we want them to do in order to sufficiently rattle us. Bad guys get off easy in the court of viewer opinion, It's the protagonists that bear the brunt of our scrutiny as we mentally berate them with thoughts like, "Why the hell did they go in there?" Or, "She should have driven away when she had the chance!"
