With over 2.7 million subscribed members, the r/horror subreddit stands tall as one of Reddit‘s most thriving pop culture communities. United by their passion for scary cinema, r/horror users run the gamut from casual hobbyists to hardcore horror scholars.
Compared to mainstream critics limited by subjective biases or out-of-touch perspectives, r/horror‘s diverse melting pot of perspectives makes their discussions an insightful barometer for measuring what truly connects with everyday horror fans.
To help navigate over a century of horror history, r/horror has compiled lists of the most popular scary movies amongst its vocal userbase. While there are always new gems on the rise, this guide will focus on the top 15 horror films that come up time and again across the countless genre debates occurring 24/7 on r/horror‘s boards.
From black-and-white silent chillers to recent critical darlings, this lineup showcases how horror cinema has drastically evolved across decades while still landing shocks and scares tailored to each generation. Let‘s dive deeper into the making of each film and why they remain etched in r/horror‘s memory.
15. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Directed By: Wes Craven
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund
Wes Craven undoubtedly qualifies as a master of horror thanks to his extensive filmography littered with immortal genre classics. But the slasher icon saved his most sadistically imaginative ideas for 1984‘s A Nightmare on Elm Street, which introduced the world to Freddy Krueger.
With his dirty red-and-green sweater and glove outfitted with razor claws, horribly burnt child murderer Freddy stalks his victims in their dreams. This already amplified the scare factor by exploiting the common fear of nightmares. But Craven went several steps further by uprooting reality once the characters fell asleep.
Bending physical logic to his whims, Craven plunged victims into absurd yet frightening dream settings like a blood-gushing bed fountain or a room where footsteps echo from the wall. Keeping the audience guessing what bizarre scenario might follow generated true suspense.
Meanwhile, Robert Englund rapidly stood out as horror‘s hottest new villain. While lumbering silent killers like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees dominated the early 80s, Freddy‘s malicious cackles and taste for one-liners felt innovatively cruel.
From a business perspective, A Nightmare on Elm Street also helped transform production company New Line Cinema into a legitimate Hollywood force. Previously subsisting on distribution and foreign acquisitions, New Line struck gold by granting Craven creative freedom. The film‘s immense profits funded New Line‘s expansion into original productions, even earning the nickname "The House That Freddy Built."
Thanks to the endless visual creativity empowering Freddy’s nightmares and a famed killer who compellingly balances laughs with scares, A Nightmare on Elm Street slashes its way onto r/horror’s Best Horror Movies list.
14. Suspiria (1977)
Directed By: Dario Argento
Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini
For seasoned horror fans, Italian director Dario Argento‘s filmography fosters rather divisive opinions. Titles like Inferno or The Stendhal Syndrome push sensory overload to the point of unintentional comedy.
However, virtually all r/horror subscribers unite to praise Argento’s 1977 art-house fever dream Suspiria as one of horror cinema’s most aesthetically overwhelming visions.
From the vibrant color schemes to the surreal production designs to the cacophonous soundtrack by Italian prog-rock band Goblin, Suspiria immediately stands apart for its commitment to crafting sheer psychotropic madness.
The thin narrative follows American ballet student Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) as she journeys to Germany for intense dance training. But upon arrival at the prestigious Tanz Dance Academy, Suzy quickly realizes the matrons and instructors of the school double as a coven of witches.
Argento puts the story’s logical coherence aside to instead mount one lavish set-piece after another blending violence, paranormal mayhem, optical illusions, and all manner ofhouette tricks that literally splatter the screen with stunning primary colors. The visceral impact remains mesmerizing some 45 years later.
Horror at its best often explores primal, subconscious fears. In Suspiria, Argento taps into nightmare logic – abandoning rational narrative cause-and-effect in favor of disorienting sights and sounds that access a direct channel into the mind‘s darkest corners.
While many horror films aim to scare viewers, Suspiria wants to completely envelope your senses until reality itself feels altered…now that’s terrifying power!
13. Halloween (1978)
Directed By: John Carpenter
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis
By 1978, filmmaker John Carpenter had already exhibited creative command over sci-fi (Dark Star) and action (Assault on Precinct 13). But for his first major studio production, Carpenter ingeniously hybridized simmering suspense with slash-happy gore to birth the definitive template for stalker horror movies to follow.
Set in the fictional midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois on October 31st, musically-gifted boy Michael Myers escapes asylum confinement only to immediately seek vengeance against slutty teens and naughty babysitters.
For resourceful high schooler Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis in her star-making debut performance), this sets up an extremely eventful babysitting gig trying to evade Myers’ butcher knife.
Carpenter maximizes tension through patient shot construction and thriller-esque cat-and-mouse chase dynamics as Laurie repeatedly crosses paths with the silent, expressionless masked killer.
Beyond its technical mastery and thematic influence, Halloween also struck a cultural chord thanks to arriving when America’s fascination with serial killers like Ted Bundy and Son of Sam reached feverish heights.
While the franchise has spawned countless sequels and remakes, Carpenter‘s stripped-down original maintains untouchable status as the essential suburban slasher flick. Myers remains one of horror’s most feared boogeymen over 40 years later.
12. The Thing (1982)
Directed By: John Carpenter
Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley
John Carpenter‘s filmography overflows with undisputed genre classics from pioneering slasher Halloween to dystopian action favorite Escape from New York. But according to r/horror subscribers, no Carpenter film quite reaches the masterpiece heights of his 1982 Antarctic-stranded thriller The Thing.
Loosely basing the premise on John W. Campbell‘s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, The Thing takes place at a remote American scientific research outpost in Antarctica called U.S. Outpost 31.
When the crew discovers a hostile alien organism buried in the snow that can flawlessly imitate any living being, claustrophobic tension and rampant paranoia tear the station apart. Without knowing who to trust, the isolated team faces destruction unless they can stop The Thing from slaughtering them all.
Actor Kurt Russell adds to his collaborations with Carpenter in iconic form as R.J. MacReady, the cynical helicopter pilot pressed into action once this extraterrestrial disease starts gruesomely mutating through victims.
Overseen by masterful makeup effects designer Rob Bottin, the creature effects used to bring the shape-shifting Thing’s gelatinous transformations still remain utterlyconvincing. No CGI available even in 2023 can top Bottin’s intense practical wizardry.
Upon release, reviewers criticized The Thing’s excessive gore and a downbeat conclusion that frames the struggle at U.S. Outpost 31 as an unwinnable fight against the spread of an alien infection. In retrospect, Carpenter took a smart gamble deviating from conventional Hollywood formulas. The cryptic ending and astonishing creature work solidify The Thing as John Carpenter‘s unmatched masterwork in the eyes of r/horror.
11. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen
Horror cinema entered an important transitional phase during the early 1970s as mainstream studios moved away from gothic supernatural fare towards more grounded genre efforts highlighting everyday madmen and bloodthirsty humans rather than fantastical monsters or creatures.
Within this creative shift, Tobe Hooper unleashed 1974‘s micro-budget shocker The Texas Chain Saw Massacre upon the world and instantly redefined intensity levels for horror violence, brutality, and sheer unrelenting madness modern viewers could withstand.
When a group of young friends traveling through rural Texas cross paths with the murderous cannibalistic Sawyer family, the most iconic killer named Leatherface gruesomely dispatches victims utilizing power tools and other hardware store items. Hence, the power drill and chainsaw transform into instruments of torment.
Hooper amplifies discomfort through documentary-style cinematography and editing meant to unsettle as if the footage itself was recorded during an actual massacre. Marilyn Burns’ deafening screams echoing across the Texas plains pierce souls.
Despite lean resources, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre demolished box office expectations by terrifying audiences unmatched before or since. With its authentic atmosphere far removed from studio polish, Hooper made the horror genre dangerous again for the post-Vietnam disillusioned generation. The fumes from Leatherface’s growling chainsaw continue drifting over r/horror’s favorite horror movie discussions some 45 years later.
