[doktorkoan]

I hear what the original poster is saying. This stuff started out as just bad filmmaking. But I think now they are a kind of tradition. Part of what makes them so fun is watching them with friends and yelling out "I can't believe how STUPID she is!" or (paraphrasing Dee Snyder) "For Christ sake - he's a fucking DOLL! Pick him up and rip his limbs off!"
I think the Evil Dead movies are so beloved because Raimi took a lot of those traditions and turned them on their head so that we could laugh and be scared at the same time.
I don't think there is anything wrong with awkward conventions in genre films if the movie goer knows what to expect. It's why I never pay attention to what critics say about certain kinds of horror flicks.