Are the Oscar´s Finally Into Scary Movies?
When most people hear Oscar-nominated, they often imagine heartfelt admissions and tearful goodbyes, actresses sniffling snot as apathetic men teach them life lessons they never wanted to learn. An Oscar-film for most is a drama, perhaps one starring Meryl Streep or Leonardo DiCaprio. The sort of film you might catch on the tail end of its run between Marvel movies and Disney live-action remakes. To most, a film that digs its claws under your skin and makes you howl isn’t exactly Oscar material, so year after year, horror fans find themselves asking: is this the year the Oscar’s decides to recognize horror films?
The first horror film to win an Oscar was Dr. Jekyll and M. Hyde (1931) with the 5th Oscar’s honoring actor Frederic March for his dual role as the titular characters. It wasn’t until 1968 that Ruth Gordon secured the second Oscar win for her role of Minnie Castevet in Rosemary’s Baby (1968), but after this win, the horror genre’s nominations tended to be restricted to technical categories. The Exorcist (1973) for adapted screenplay and sound. Alien (1979) and its sequel for Best Visual Effects. And sure, An American Werewolf in London (1981)’s success inspired the Academy to create a category explicitly for Best Makeup. But by and large, horror struggled to secure any of the Big 5 awards (including Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay) till Silence of the Lambs (1981) swept all 5 awards.
But since 1991, horror’s wins at the Oscar’s have been few and far between with many films failing to secure nominations in the Big 5 categories. The Oscar’s don’t necessarily fail to recognize genre films, but it tends to award the top awards to science fiction or fantasy films or ignore genre films altogether. Even filmmakers like Guillermo Del Toro, who primarily work in the horror genre, tend to get their most recognition for films that straddle the line between horror and another genre as seen with The Shape of Water (2017). Almost every year, horror fans flock to the internet to decry robbery and a lack of nominations for the genre, with performances by Toni Collette in Hereditary (2018) and Lupita Nyong’o in Us (2019) being argued as performances that were failed to be acknowledged due to their film’s genre.
But with the 98th Academy Awards, horror fans are remaining optimistic as Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025) has broken the record for most nominations with 16 nominations across every major category except Best Actress and nominated in every technical category making an Oscar’s first. Additionally, Amy Madigan has broken barriers with her widely praised performance as Gladys in Weapons (2025) positioning her as the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress after a successful early awards run. While horror films frequently lead the box office and break records with their sensationalized releases and word-of-mouth viewership growth, it feels exciting for the horror genre to find itself being recognized by an Academy that has largely ignored its contributions. Perhaps, it is a bit foolish to hope this signifies a shift in Academy voting preferences as the Academy’s voters become more diverse, younger, more international, and more varied in opinion than in the past, but for horror fans, it’s worth celebrating.
