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People watch horror movies for a similar reason that they listen to sad or angry music. We like art that validates our experience. It makes us feel better. But especially art is useful for things that is not validated through daily life, for example trauma, anger, sadness, and sexuality. In my experience, society encourages constant happy demeanor and likewise doesn’t know how to deal with negative emotions. We might hold a single event like a funeral or send someone a card, but regarding chronic emotions, the answer is basically “ok, we said we sympathize with you, why are you still sad? Also I expect you at work on Monday.”

Horror in general is neutral imo (as I’ve seen already discussed in other comments) and it’s the class context in which certain stories are written which imbues a class perspective. For example, old school Westerns confront the audience’s fear of violence “savage” natives or oppressed minorities, the material basis of which is settler colonial society. Nonetheless it is a general fear among white society and that’s why people need that validation. Likewise I don’t think these same people will usually relate to a story which confronts the trauma of the marginalized and/or racialized segments of the working class. There’s a reason the Soviets and the Maoists almost immediately grasped the political nature of art. (And so did the capitalists, that’s why Hollywood exists.)