There’s a reason why producers and studios will always churn out horror movies each year, even if they suck, even if they’re not scary, and even if they’re the worst reviewed films of any genre. Simply put, they make bank.

Case in point: A study by the fine folks over at MoviePilot proves that the 10 most profitable films from 2010 to 2015 are all horror movies. How’d they quantify this? By simply ranking their Return on Investment (ROI), which is the ratio of a movie’s production budget vs. the money earned at the worldwide box office.



(Read: The 20 Worst Horror Movie Sequels of All Time)

That’s why producer Jason Blumhouse smiles so much. After all, his Blumhouse Productions company is responsible for six (!) of the 10 films listed below: Insidious 2, The Purge, Paranormal Activity 3, Unfriended, Paranormal Activity 2, and Insidious. If we’re being fair — and why wouldn’t we be? — those are easily the best of the icky, wicked bunch.

Suffice to say, scares do some good.

The 10 Most Profitable Movies from 2010-2015

10. The Last Exorcism ($70M gross vs. $1.8M production budget)

09. Annabelle ($250M vs. $6.5M)

08. Chernobyl Diaries ($38M vs. $1M)

07. Insidious 2 ($162M vs. $5M)

06. The Purge ($91M vs. $3M)

05. Paranormal Activity 3 ($202M vs. $5M)

04. Unfriended ($48M vs. $1M)

03. Paranormal Activity 2 ($177M vs. $3M)

02. Insidious ($100M vs. $1.5M)

01. The Devil Inside ($101M box vs. $1M)