Nothing beats a classic monster — be it shark, gremlin, or the devil himself — in this world or the next for scaring up crowds at the movie theater.
Drawing on reported box office numbers, here are the 10 classic horror films made before 1990 that raked in the most at the box office:
1. "Jaws" (1975) $260 million
Universal needed a bigger boat to carry away all the money made by this tale of a shark terrorizing a seaside town — summer's first-ever blockbuster.
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2. "Ghostbusters" (1984) $242.2 million
These out-of-work parapsychologists and their proton packs saved New York from an ancient demon and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
3. "The Exorcist" (1973) $232.9 million
A priest struggled to free a young woman from possession by the devil. You never looked at pea soup the same way again.
4. "Gremlins" (1984) $153.1 million
The cute critters’ dark secret came to light if you feed them after midnight.
5. "Ghostbusters II" (1989) $112.5 million
What Gozer couldn’t do, the courts could — but a river of ectoplasm under New York put the Ghostbusters back in business.
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6. "The Amityville Horror" (1979) $86.4 million
A family's new house was the scene of an old murder, and the spirits wouldn’t rest — nor would they let the new owners.
7. "Jaws 2" (1978) $81.8 million
Another shark, more relentless than the first, came to wreak havoc off Amity Island.
8. "Poltergeist" (1982) $76.6 million
At first the ghosts in the house were whimsical. Then the youngest daughter disappeared and matters took a terrifying turn.
9. "The Omen" (1976) $60.9 million
The ambassador agrees to switch his stillborn son with the baby of a mother who died in childbirth. But is this really the devil’s own child?
10. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988) $49.4 million
The last of the Elm Street kids willed her dream power to a friend before Freddy Krueger kills her, but you knew Freddy wasn't going to stand for that. Sweet dreams ...
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