The Absolute Best Guilty Pleasure Horror Movie, According To Reddit

If you love horror movies, you might want to take note of a vote that took place in the Reddit r/horror forum, otherwise known as Dreadit. This list was compiled three years ago, which means it won't include favorites like 2019's Doctor Sleep or 2020's The Invisible Man – but that's okay, because this is a list of guilty pleasures, which doesn't necessarily mean box office gold. In fact, Dreadit has a 2020-updated Top 100 Horror Films list, which is topped by movies such as The Thing, Alien, The Shining, and other horror genre classics. For fans of specific subgenres, there are also best movie lists for horror flicks featuring everything from killer insects to zombies.

But if you're looking for something fun, gory, crazy, or whatever you're slightly ashamed of liking, this is the survey you want to peruse. People just adore these movies, but that doesn't mean they fit the definition of "good." Dreadit's 2.3 million members know what they're talking about, and here's what they think is the best guilty pleasure horror movie of all time.

The vote went to sci-fi slasher flick Jason X, the tenth entry in the Friday the 13th franchise. This was the film that went off-formula to send everyone's favorite serial killer into space, more than 400 years into the future. Such a move allowed Farmer to give the film a dystopian setting that incorporates elements from sci-fi classics like Blade Runner and the Alien franchise. But Jason X didn't do so well, making less than $17 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) and turning it into one of the worst-performing Jason Voorhees films. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 20-percent Tomatometer score, and Roger Ebert gave the movie 0.5 stars, which is pretty dismal and definitely doesn't reflect the amount of fun viewers had watching it. 

ScreenRant calls the film "misunderstood," and other publications have stepped forward in recent years to defend Jason X. In 2016, Nerdist mounted an apt defense, saying, "'Jason in space' is exactly the type of insane, ludicrous, absurd premise that someone comes up with for a barely breathing horror franchise desperate to make one last buck before they can reboot everything with a sincere remake. The people that made Jason X knew all of that, and that's why the movie is perfect." 

Bloody Disgusting noted in 2017, "It's actually a laughably bad movie. That being said, I can't help but sort of love it." This makes it sound like the ultimate guilty pleasure, doesn't it? Clearly, the horror fans on Reddit echo the sentiment. One user, backing up the vote, said, "One of the best Jason's period [sic]. Some really inventive kills and who can forget the holodeck sequence with the female campers and the sleeping bag." Another user pointed out that the Friday the 13th series has always been "shoddy," but "Jason X, particularly, is a LOT of fun. It doesn't make any sense and it's not meant to be taken seriously. I just can't help but love."

While Jason X topped the list, there are definitely other guilty pleasures you'll want to catch if you haven't yet. The films that round out the top ten include Sleepaway Camp, Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder's 2004 version), Halloween (the 2007 Rob Zombie version), Jennifer's Body, Tusk, Troll 2, House of Wax, Maximum Overdrive, and AVP: Alien vs. Predator. And in the top 20, you'll find The Faculty, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, Thirteen Ghosts, Piranha 3D, A Nightmare on Elm Street (the 2010 version), The Happening, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Basket Case, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, and Unfriended. 

Of course, what's considered a guilty pleasure won't be the same for everyone. As one Reddit user said under a nomination for The Devil's Candy, "I think 'guilty pleasure' is hard to define! This is legitimately the hardest of the lists to make because it's so subjective." The poll isn't exactly scientific, so, take it with a grain of salt. But also — grab some popcorn and one of these movies next time you have the urge to be scared out of your wits in an entertaining way.