Stupidity: Throughout the entire movie the police just don't seem to be doing their job. From the beginning they never taped off the RV as a possible crime scene, for 4 days every night the police always have their cherries on, and they are standing in front if the lake looking in the same spot about 50 yards away from the RV. They never searched the buildings on the grounds; which the mother searched and found the sicko responsible for making filthy movies. They also never searched the trash. Doesn't jive. (00:00:01 - 01:50:55)
Stupidity: Crystal knows she is being hunted and in a very dangerous life-threatening situation yet, after she kills "Ma and Pops" in their Main Street Market, she grabs only a few shotgun shells out of the open box instead of taking all of them or as many as she could find. Also, she walks some distance to the store but did not take anything to drink or eat. (00:27:00 - 00:27:55)
Stupidity: Dr. Cocteau's choice to unleash an enhanced Simon Phoenix without any way to restrain him is incredibly reckless and stupid. Even if Simon were to kill Eager Friendly, in the best case situation, you'd still have a madman with total computer access, martial arts knowledge, etc., that you would have no way to rein in. Sure, he can't kill Dr. Cocteau, but what would stop him from say, holding the city hostage or something? Why not add in a kill code or something to keep him in check?
Suggested correction: Who says he didn't? Cocteau has put in mental conditioning compelling Phoenix to kill Edgar Friendly and make him unable to kill Cocteau. Who says he hasn't put in something that makes him kill himself after the deed is done? Or perhaps paralyze him so he can be put back on ice. It's just that Cocteau didn't count on the fact that his henchmen could kill him. He doesn't care about how dangerous he is, not until he has done the deed.
Dr. Cocteau is a narcissistic egomaniac type that would see himself as a king or a god, even. And Simon is making him very angry. He even tells Simon, "you're beginning to be more trouble than you're worth..." Someone with an ego like Cocteau wouldn't stand for Simon's antics for very long. And would happily enjoy putting Simon back in his place by shocking, paralyzing, etc.
But he first needs him to kill Friendly. Until he does that, he'll let him play. He still sees no danger to himself.
Stupidity: Scream is always considered a parody of the genre; many deaths are grounded in reality, but the one at Jennifer's house it just isn't, since for that to happen the killer needed to know that one of the guests he scared out of the house would have to go inside the kitchen (a different room, further inside) to look at the remaining page, be unaware of the gas and light something to see it, instead of bringing it outside or using a portable flashlight like it happened earlier. None of that was predictable.
Stupidity: Grace (?) came out of hiding holding a fire extinguisher upside-down as though prepared to use the fire extinguisher to whack any Allosaurus that approached her. Actually spraying the dinosaur's eyes with the chemical contents of the fire extinguisher - and from a greater distance by using the hose - would have been much more practical and effective as a repellent and thereby less likely to result in getting maimed/killed. (She did not use the fire extinguisher at all). (01:02:20)
Stupidity: The highly trained commandos who knew everything about the NSA base and penetrated it during a perfectly planned operation through weapons and devices that pierce steel like butter, decided to stand outside the barn (so they knew something valuable was there) and its wooden door. It even has a direct line to the command center.
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.
Stupidity: At the end, the police inspector talks Bruce Lee into surrendering, and about 8 people (including the inspector) escort him out of the school. As soon as they're outside, Bruce sees a formation of heavily-armed police preparing to fire. Realizing he was betrayed, Bruce Lee charges, screaming, straight into a barrage of gunfire as the action freezes for credits. However, before the action freezes, there's NO reaction from anyone standing behind Bruce Lee, even though they are directly in the line of fire. Even the police inspector (who knew the police gunmen were waiting outside) just stands there instead of immediately diving for cover.
Stupidity: When Governor Swann is trying to encourage his daughter while she's locked within the ship's chambers trying to escape, she climbs down to a boat. Nobody in the Navy would have left a boat there, neither would Jack (and why would he, especially without anyone noticing?). The boat just mysteriously appears to help her escape.
Stupidity: When Joaquin was running from Cornell, he turned into an alley between buildings. He was to the left (of the screen), which was unobstructed, but ran to the right, so he could jump over boxes. Cornell could have also stayed to the left, but ran far enough to the right where he could kick the boxes out of his way. Easily avoiding the boxes would have been faster. (00:11:37)
Stupidity: In the bar scene, Jack gets into a fight with a guy he busted a few years back, then Reggie turns to the bartender and asks for a gun. The bartender hardly hesitates and hands it over. There is just simply no scenario where a bartender would hand a loaded gun to a patron they had just met.
Stupidity: If Leo wants to kill his son's killer at any cost and no matter what happens, he should've gone directly to his House when the purge starts.
Suggested correction: He absolutely is headed there, but we see at least one incident where his path is blocked due to people out purging, and he needs to turn around. That detour caused him to go a different route, which led him to the mother and daughter. We even see him struggling with the decision on whether or not to help them. He decides to do so, and the rest of the movie unfolds as we see, but there is no mistake.
Stupidity: The Chief Inspector wants the video cassette back because it shows him committing murder. Yet he spends the entire movie shooting and killing people in public trying to get Johnny and the cassette.
Stupidity: The mercs are said to drop in, in broad daylight. Approx four men are furthermore able to drop with plenty of ammo and at least one high calibre rifle, but they do not bring mines to secure roads nor drones to map the area.
Stupidity: Molly was being hunted and didn't know if she could trust Rayburn when he encountered her. Rayburn told Molly that he wanted to help, wouldn't hurt her, put a blanket around her, and even carried her in the woods for some distance. When he put her on the ground (along with his backpack and rifle) to go find the rope to open the pitfall doors and had his back turned, Molly got out from under the blanket and hid nearby. Rayburn quickly found Molly, and Molly made a lame attempt at attacking him with some kind of club. The next day when Rayburn and Molly were in Rayburn's house and her hunter showed up and attacked Rayburn, Molly grabbed Rayburn's rifle and fired several shots at the hunter. Molly obviously knew how to use a rifle, so it was asinine for her to have hidden from Rayburn the previously night without taking his rifle (or the blanket). (00:36:22)
Stupidity: During the ghost chase montage, why would Velma look for her glasses with her hand in midair instead than on the ground? No matter how nearsighted you are, the closest wall, or obstacle, is meters away and you'll never find your glasses anywhere but the floor. She does it for a longer time than anyone would. (00:52:40)
Stupidity: When the two Russians are walking past the security guard after killing Gregor, they are just allowed out without being detained because one of them shows a Chilean passport. The French gendarmes are not that incompetent. They would detain the men until everything is (or is not) cleared up. (01:49:05)