Horror Movies Are Terrorizing the Awards Season Competition!
For a genre that’s usually snubbed by the major awards shows, horror is performing surprisingly well so far this year. Honestly I rarely watch, or care about, awards shows. I haven’t even watched the Academy Awards in years.
Still, horror’s recent run of success is notable. Let’s take a look at some recent highlights. This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are dozens of organizations that bestow awards each year.
Frankenstein – Critics Choice Awards for costumes, production design, best supporting actor, and makeup.
Sinners – the Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement and Critic’s Choice Awards for screenplay, casting, and score.
Good Boy – Indy the dog received an Astra award for best performance in a horror/thriller movie. The film also received special awards and citations from several organizations, including the Austin Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the Seattle Film Critics Society.
Weapons – best horror and thriller and best supporting actress (Amy Madigan) at the Astra Film Awards and a Critic’s Choice Award for Madigan for supporting actress.
The Oscar nominations are released on January 22nd. How many horror films will be on the list? My guess is Sinners and Frankenstein will pick up nominations in technical categories. Sinners might have a shot at a best picture nomination, and it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see Amy Madigan pick up a best supporting actress nomination.
Last year I wrote about the short list of horror and thriller films that have been nominated for the top Oscar award. Will Sinners, or another genre film, join them? If so, that might actually make me interested in watching the Academy Awards this year.
Horror has come a long way. It was once regarded as being an entry level genre for aspiring young performers – just one step above porn in the hierarchy of film genres.
There have been a wide variety of critically acclaimed genre films in recent years. Critics have generally stopped downgrading these movies for being gory and violent, as long as there is a purpose behind the carnage. Hopefully, this will lead to more award winning horror movies in the future.
