The horror genre is one that has historically been looked down upon by film critics. Before superhero movies were seen as ‘not cinema’, horror was the only genre that got a bad reputation and was underrated in prestigious movie rooms. This may be because it takes very little to make a horror movie, making it accessible to almost anyone. We’ve seen incredibly successful horror movies like: The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity come from independent and low-budget filmmakers. In fact, Blumhouse has built a successful career making low-budget horror movies that we’ve all come to love.
Horror is probably the easiest genre to get into and only requires an idea, a script, a camera, and a few actors willing to help you make the movie. This has made the genre very niche and underground, with most of the genre spreading through the depths of the internet. This means that the genre can only be truly appreciated by those with a deep love for it. So the mainstream market only really gets the tip of the iceberg when it comes to horror, and for the average consumer they are seen to lack the same depth and substance as other genres.
So, with the lack of appreciation for the movies in this genre along with genres like sci-fi, per slash movieit clearly became very rare that a horror film was nominated at the Oscars in a category that was not for visual effects or score. The Academy Awards are not an indicator of what makes a good or bad movie, but it is an indicator of which movies are taken seriously by those respected in the industry. That said, these are the only six horror films ever nominated for Best Picture.
6/6 The Exorcist (1973)
the exorcist was the first horror film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Released in 1973, the film has become a classic of the genre, infamous for its response from moviegoers at the time as one of the scariest films ever made. It is known that at the time, the public was shocked by the paranormal film based on a novel of the same name, which followed a girl, Regan, when her mother began to believe that something was wrong with her, and when medical help does not answer. , she realizes that something much more sinister must be going on with her daughter. The film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 46th Annual Ceremony, but lost to the stitch. However, it still took home the Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Sound.
5/6 Jaws (1975)
The famous movie that scared us all to go into the ocean. jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, was an adaptation of a book of the same name about a New England summer resort town that is terrorized by a man-eating great white shark, and the town sheriff, Martin Brody, who sets out to capture it with the help of a marine biologist and professional shark hunter. Since its release, jaws has become closely associated with pop culture, with multiple references to the film in various media, especially its easily recognizable soundtrack. On its first release, it was the highest-grossing film of all time before the release of the first Star Wars. jaws was nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Sound, and Best Picture at the 48th Annual Academy Awards, winning all but Best Picture. Despite that, and despite Spielberg not receiving a Best Director nomination, the film was selected for conservation by the Congressional Library in 2001, establishing Spielberg as the future of filmmaking.
4/6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
the psychological horror, The Silence of the Lambs, made history when it became the first and only horror film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Also based on a book of the same name, the film stars Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster as the now iconic Hannibal Lector, a notorious psychiatrist turned cannibalistic serial killer, and Clarice Starling, an FBI detective on the hunt for a to get hold of another loose serial killer, Buffalo. bill. Like many other movies on this list, it became one of the most famous movies, with iconic lines and imagery. Silence of the lambs impressively won the Big Five Oscars at the 64th Annual Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. It made history by being the third film to ever achieve this feat.
3/6 The Sixth Sense (1999)
One of the most famous and memorable films of M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense shocked audiences everywhere with his cleverly executed plot twist. The film starred Bruce Willis as a child psychologist and a young Haley Joel Osment as a boy who claims to be able to see dead people. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, but took home none of them. Despite this, the film still stands as probably one of the most highly-cited films in other film and TV worlds, delivering a very different experience when re-watched due to foreshadowing the iconic plot twist.
2/6 Black Swan (2010)
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Black Swanstarring Natalie Portman, is a psychological horror film that follows a ballerina who goes mad as she competes for a part in a production of Tchaikovsky’s swan lake. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2010 and also starred Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. The film was nominated for five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Editing Film. Sadly, the film lost its top film award, Best Picture, to The King’s Speech.
1/6 Go Away (2017)
The most recent nomination for an Oscar for Best Picture was in 2018, with Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, Out, a psychological horror that follows a black man who uncovers dark secrets about his white girlfriend’s family. Like much of Peele’s work, the film tackles the issue of race in a unique and gruesome twist. Prior to the film’s release, Peele was known as a comedian, with notable works such as Key & Peele, so it shocked the world when he released a well-written and directed horror film that explored racism in a way it had never explored before and sparked the production of more of his films about race. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 90th Annual Academy Awards, alongside Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor (for Daniel Kaluuya). Despite not winning the coveted Best Picture Oscar, Peele became the third person to earn nominations in the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay categories with a debut film, while also making history as the first black writer to win Best Original Screenplay.