How many Oscars have been awarded to horror movies?
If there is one genre that has always had a tough time at the Oscars, it’s horror. Throughout the 96 years that the Academy Awards has been around, the number of scary movies rewarded with major prizes pales compared to other genres the Academy tends to love, such as drama and historical epics.
As an illustration, in the near century of the Oscars, only six horror films have ever been nominated for ‘Best Picture’: 1973’s The Exorcist, 1975’s Jaws, 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, 1999’s The Sixth Sense, 2010’s Black Swan, and 2017’s Get Out.
Why does the Academy seem to dismiss horror as a viable candidate for awards glory? Well, it likely has a lot to do with what is seen as ‘high art’ and what is viewed as ‘low art.’ Horror tends to be thought of as graphic, violent thrill rides that appeal to the lowest common denominator – even though that ignores large swathes of the genre that are much more than gorefests aimed at teenagers.
The Academy’s side-eyed view of the medium isn’t just a figment of people’s imaginations, either. Jason Blum, the super-producer behind Blumhouse Productions and a man who helped bring Get Out to the world, claimed he encountered huge resistance when attempting to push that film as a potential Oscar picture.
“I think there’s still a good section of the Academy that dismisses horror, no matter what the movie is,” he said. “There’s a group of them who will not vote for, or even watch, a scary movie.”
But has a horror movie ever won ‘Best Picture’?
Half a dozen horror movies have been nominated for ‘Best Picture’ over the years – but only one took home the coveted prize. The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme’s serial killer masterpiece starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, swept the board in 1992 when it became only the third film to win in every one of the five major Oscar categories.
Many dedicated genre aficionados don’t consider Silence a true horror movie, instead believing it’s a psychological thriller or a crime thriller. In truth, it’s easy to see why. The movie is undoubtedly scary and gets under the skin of its audience, but it doesn’t operate stylistically in the same way most horror movies do. Aside from a few gory scenes and one nail-bitingly tense sequence in a darkened basement, the film is primarily an investigative story. In some ways, it’s a particularly dark and grotesque police procedural, as opposed to a horror in the classic sense.
Has an actor ever won an Oscar for a horror movie?
Even though only one – debatable – horror movie has won ‘Best Picture’, actors have fared slightly better over the years. Six stars have taken home trophies for their performances in horror films, going as far back as Frederic March for his twin role in 1931’s Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. It would take 37 years for another horror star to win, but Ruth Gordon’s ‘Best Supporting Actress’ victory for 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby was richly deserved.
In 1990, Kathy Bates earned ‘Best Actress’ for her terrifying performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery, and it is still the only Oscar ever won by a Stephen King adaptation. Foster and Hopkins are winners four and five – if you count Silence as a horror, of course – and the sixth winner was Natalie Portman for 2010’s Black Swan.
Again, though, that is a film whose horror credentials have been questioned over the years, even if supporters would place it in the same psychological horror category as Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling.
So, how many Oscars have been awarded to horror movies?
All in all, in the Oscars’ 96 years, 21 horror movies have been nominated for awards – and they’ve taken home a total of 36. On top of the wins named above, the vast majority of the rest of the victories have come in the technical categories, which makes sense, considering horror films often live and die on their practical or visual effects, menacing scores, and horrifying costume design.
Some of the most famous winners in these categories include The Exorcist, which earned nods for ‘Best Sound’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’, and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which landed ‘Best Sound,’ ‘Best Film Editing’ and ‘Best Original Dramatic Score’. The Omen also won for ‘Best Score’.
Rick Baker’s stunning practical makeup effects in John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London were so revolutionary that the Oscars instituted the category of ‘Best Makeup’ for the first time, with most observers believing it was created almost entirely to reward the extraordinary young artist. He later won the same trophy again for 2010’s The Wolfman.
Sticking with makeup, 1986’s The Fly also took home ‘Best Makeup’, as did Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, which also won ‘Best Costume Design’ and ‘Best Sound Effects Editing.’ Moving into the realm of special effects, Alien won ‘Best Visual Effects’, and its sequel, Aliens, won ‘Best Sound Effects’ and ‘Best Visual Effects.’
