Every decade has its influential and iconic horror films: The Conjuring for the 2010s, 28 Days Later for the aughts, Scream for the 1990s, and A Nightmare on Elm Street for the 1980s. The '70s are no different, but not every classic 1970s horror film made a mint at the box office. Phantasm, The Wicker Man, The Last House on the Left, and Black Christmas were box office disappointments that became cult classic and made their money over time. For '70s horror films that found immediate success, quality often led to high financial returns, according to Box Office Mojo.
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) — $30.7 Million
A sequel grossing less than a seventh of the original's domestic haul usually spells flop, but Exorcist II: The Heretic still set an opening weekend record for Warner Bros. However, it was also reviled by critics and ticket buyers over those three days that the movie was changed while in theaters. In the end, any changes made did little to alter the quality of John Boorman's troubled film, and the toxic word of mouth sunk the ship quickly.
Even still, the film's production budget was so low it could technically be called a success, as it earned nearly $30.8 million on a budget of just $14 million.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) — $30.9 Million
Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre initially went into production on a tiny budget of $60,000, but there's debate as to the final figure. Regardless, even if the budget were ten times that figure, Hooper's masterfully atmospheric film would be one of the most successful films of the decade, horror or otherwise.
The story of five friends who meet a family of cannibals made a massive sum of $30.9 million. In 2022 dollars, that would be about $183 million.
Carrie (1976) — $33.8 Million
Brian De Palma's Carrie stands as the first, and one of the best, Stephen King adaptations in a long line of King adaptations. Featuring a star-making performance from Sissie Spacek, De Palma's film showed that popular horror fiction could be adapted into an effective film.
On a budget of just $1.8 million, the film earned a very impressive $33.8 million from domestic markets, which made it clear that more of the author's work would soon be adapted. However, not all the financially successful ones were worthwhile just as not all the flops were failures (The Shining).
Halloween (1978) — $47.2 Million
Michael Myers and his iconic butcher knife became iconic fairly quickly thanks to the jaw-dropping financial success of John Carpenter's seminal Halloween. To this day one of the most successful independent films, the reaction to Carpenter's classic is the major reason why audiences also have Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
With a scant budget of $325,000, Halloween scored a whopping $47 million dollars at the United States box office, surpassing the already-impressive total of Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The Omen (1976) — $60.9 Million
Richard Donner's The Omen boasted a major star in the form of Gregory Peck, but he wasn't the only reason the film proved to be one of the Superman director's biggest hits.
With gorgeous cinematography, a compelling story, memorable scare scenes, and a brilliant score, The Omen is a masterful mid-'70s scarer that pulled almost $61 million on a budget of just $2.8 million. The story of the devil's son would go on to inspire two theatrical sequels, the first of which (Damien: The Omen II) managed to prove moderately successful in its own right.
The Amityville Horror (1979) — $86.4 Million
Starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder, The Amityville Horror was one of several memorable horror films that helped close out the 1970s. With an effective atmosphere and devoted performances from most of the cast, it stands as a minor classic of the genre.
The Amityville Horror wasn't critically lauded at the time nor has it ever been, but the movie was a massive success at the box office. With a decent budget of $4.7 million, the movie netted over $86 million from U.S. theaters alone, effectively earning 17 times its budget.
Jaws 2 (1978) — $81.8 Million
As a sequel to the best shark movie of all time, Jaws 2 had some big fins to swim behind, and unlike the two sequels that followed, it managed to do so with some level of success.
With that being said, the sequel didn't nearly reach the nine-figure domestic tally of Steven Spielberg's original classic. But a horror/thriller sequel earning nearly $82 million at the United States box office in 1978 was and remains a substantial achievement. Add in $106 million from international territories, and Jaws 2 was a blockbuster in its own right.
Alien (1979) — $81.9 Million
Ridley Scott's Alien is the ultimate haunted house movie, and its sweat-inducing, hand-shaking impact helped ensure that the film would benefit from repeat business.
Scott's film also boasts the scariest theatrical trailer of all time, practically guaranteeing audience members would pay to learn what the snippets of slimy, startling footage meant in a larger context. And they did, as Alien netted an impressive $106 million worldwide on a budget of just $11 million. The first sequel, Aliens, did comparably well, but the franchise would never reach the heights of the first two films in terms of ticket sales.
The Exorcist (1973) — $233 Million
Before it was a major horror franchise, The Exorcist was both a major part of 1970s cinema pop culture and a critical darling. One of the few films that are arguably flawless, William Friedkin's classic stands as almost certainly the scariest film of all time.
The Warner Bros. production hit theaters as an $11 million investment, and those who threw in cash weren't disappointed as it grossed $233 million from the domestic market alone. Add in $136 million from international territories and Friedkin's film was a hit across the globe.
Jaws (1975) — $260.8 Million
The godfather of the blockbuster and the summer movie season, Spielberg's Jaws is not only one of the most financially successful films of the 1970s but also of all time.
Few expected it to be the masterful pop culture juggernaut it was and the budget was kept down to $7 million, a figure it would barely surpass in its first weekend alone. But then it kept making money week after week, ending with a gargantuan domestic total of over $260 million, which in 2022 dollars would equate to around $1.4 billion.