I guess it's another way of measuring the top films. Using dollar amounts can measure either popularity, or a well duped audience. This phenomenon is well evidenced by the list that Hollywood.com has released. It ranks the top 25 films according to their domestic US gross and adjusted to today's dollars, just to even the playing field.

The films are a bit of a mixed bag. Some classic, some not so, and some I am not even sure count as horror films. I am of the persuasion that even if a film has creature or monster or some such contained within, that does not automatically make it a horror film.

Something else this list shows me is just how bad the current state of the box office is. As you look at the list, pay close attention to the adjusted gross. When was the last time you saw a film pull in those kinds of numbers? It might even make you wonder where the audiences are running away to. Perhaps there were frightened by ticket prices and horrified by the concessions. Whatever the case may be, they aren't packing in the theaters.

Below you can see the top ten films from their compiled list, to see the full list, visit Hollywood.com. Now let's see how these ten blockbusters match up. First take a look at the list, my comments will follow the chart.

First let me say that the two Mummy films are not horror films, at least by my estimation. They fall more to the action/adventure side of the celluloid, more Indiana Jones than Hammer Films. By the same token, What Lies Beneath is a thriller, but hardly horror. I even think that The Sixth Sense pushes the definition of horror. I wonder what the top list would look like by my definition.