Make Better Life Choices

As evidenced by the video above, horror has become the prime nesting grounds of the Idiot Plot. Pulitzer-prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert defined the Idiot Plot as 'any plot that would be resolved in five minutes if everyone in the story were not an idiot'. To that definition, I'd add the caveat that mercilessly mocking or punishing the characters' lack of common sense is not a central goal of the story. This caveat is particularly pertinent when discussing horror, since character demise as a result of moral failings-- often illustrated in combination with poor decision-making-- has been a core trope of the genre.

However, as the 'horror as morality tale' got observed, dissected, and parodied in the 1980s and 90s both by critics (Carol J Clover's book on gender in slasher films is a noteworthy example) and popular culture (the Scream series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the genre drifted away from showing characters' poor choices as a result of their personal failings and into the realm of the idiot plot.

Arguably, without the overarching moralising, it's preferable to ditch the too-dumb-to-live cast and arm your protagonists with good sense and maybe some creativity. There are several immediate advantages to this approach:

The characters are more sympathetic. It's easier to root for characters who care about their own survival than those that seem determined to become casualties of natural selection. Furthermore, characters who make reasonable choices seem more realistic, and by extension identifiable for the audience (plus it eliminates distracting plot holes-- 'why didn't they just call the cops?').
It ups the ante for the antagonist. If your ghost, demon, or slasher can lure their victims to their doom in a tidy conga line, they don't get to strut their stuff. But if the main characters put up a fight, the antagonist has to up their evil game in response.
It adds to the suspense. Many tropes that lean on the idiot plot will be derailed by the simple inclusion of sensible characters and taken in fresh directions. That means keeping the trope-savvy audience on their toes.

What a 'sensible' character looks like will vary widely depending on the subgenre-- ghosts, slashers, and Eldrich abominations inhabit distinct universes, after all-- but will share some basic survival instinct, the ability to problem-solve, and the ability to use the tools they have at hand.