Whilehorrormovies are typically not in contention for the most high-profile awards in the movie industry, there have been several notable exceptions over the years, particularly in regard to the Academy Award for Best Picture. The horror genre has undergone somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, with high-concept horror narratives usurping cheap gore and jump-scares. Hollywood A-listers have begun to embrace the horror genre as a more respected form of cinema, with film icons like Halle Berry, Nicolas Cage, Hugh Grant andAl Pacino all involved with horror moviesin the last year.
As well-received as some of thebest horror movies of all timehave been, the genre in general has typically remained excluded from the most prestigious award lists. However, the tide could be turning with some of the more recent horror releases.Robert Eggers' vampire movieNosferatuhas already been entered on some Academy Award lists, and Coralie Fargeat’s shocking body horror movieThe Substancehas early awards buzz as well. It remains to be seen if either movie can join the short but impressive list of horror movies that have been nominated for Best Picture in the past.
The Exorcist
Cast
The Exorcist is a supernatural horror film based on the novel released in 1971 and was directed by William Friedkin. When a young girl is passed by a powerful demon, two Catholic priests are brought to her home to attempt an exorcism to expunge the demon.
While it was far from the first horror movie to ever receive any kind of Academy Award nomination,William Friedkin’sThe Exorcistis the first to receive a nomination for the most prestigious award of all, Best Picture. The supernatural horror film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, and then-newcomer Linda Blair as the possessed Regan MacNeil.The Exorcistis still regarded as one of the scariest movies of all time more than fifty years after its release, and the sheer scariness made it into a viral hit during the winter of 1973.
A production plagued by mysterious accidents resulted in several major injuries and even some deaths, leading people to believe the movie was cursed. When it did finally hit theaters,some audience members fainted or vomited due to the shocking and upsetting nature of the content on the screen, leading to some of the best word-of-mouth marketing any movie has ever experienced. Reviews at the time were mixed thanks to public outrage at the religious blasphemy of the movie and the disturbing nature of Regan’s possession, but it ended up grossing nearly $200 million in its original theatrical run.
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The Exorcistreceived a Best Picture nomination largely due toits impact on the cultural conversation at the time of its release, although it lost to Robert Redford’s celebrated heist movieThe Sting. The film’s production team and cast also garnered nine other nominations, including Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Sound (which it won). It has since been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry thanks to its cultural significance, and remains one of the most influential horror movies of all time.
Jaws
Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, follows the residents of Amity Island as they face terror from a menacing great white shark. The town’s police chief, a marine biologist, and a seasoned shark hunter join forces to track and kill the predator threatening their coastal community. Released in 1975.
Steven Spielberg’sJawsstill holds a spot on manybest monster movie listsnearly fifty years after its release, and for good reason. Its release is treated as a landmark moment in cinema history, asits exceptionally wide release yielded the first true summer blockbuster.Jaws, along withStar Wars(which was released two years later) helped to establish the current Hollywood business model of releasing large-scale and expensive action/adventure movies in the summer when recreational interest is at its height.
Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss,Jawswas an adaptation of Peter Benchley’s popular novel of the same name. The simple story of three men working to protect a resort town from a massive man-eating shark worked extremely well thanks to Spielberg’s minimalist approach to the monster, which leaned onJohn Williams' famous and simple score and obscured the creature for most of the movie. It was a runaway hit with audiences across the United States, and broke many box office records upon its release.
Jawswas the original movie that inspired the “sharksploitation” subgenre of horror, which includes movies likeDeep Blue Sea,47 Meters Down, and the recent streaming hitUnder Paris.
Jawsremains among the highest-rated horror movies today, and was nominated for Best Picture at the 48th Academy Awards. It ultimately lost to Miloš Forman’s iconic psychological comedy-drama starring Jack Nicholson,One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. LikeThe Exorcist,Jawswas selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, andinspired an entire sub-genre of horror surrounding killer sharks and other unseen aquatic monstrosities.
The Sixth Sense
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller about a young boy who can see and communicate with ghosts. Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who tries to help Cole, played by Haley Joel Osment, while grappling with his own personal demons. The movie features a twist ending that has become iconic in pop culture.
M. Night Shyamalan has become infamous for including a big twist in almost all of his movies, with some being received better than others. That trend was born withThe Sixth Sense, which stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist and Haley Joel Osment as his young patient who is able to see and talk to the dead. Upon its release, audiences everywhere were shocked to learn that Bruce Willis' character was a ghost throughout the entire movie, whichearned Shyamalan praise for his writing and direction, along with praise for the performances of the cast.
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The Sixth Sensewas nominated for Best Picture along with five other Academy Awards, including Best Director for Shyamalan. At the 72nd Academy Awards, it came up short for Best Picture, which went to Sam Mendes’American Beauty. It was a box office hit in 1999, and out-earned every movie that year except forStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.The Sixth Sensebecame a cultural phenomenon, andevolved into one of the most parodied and imitated horror movies of the last fifty years in other media.
Black Swan
In Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, talented ballet dancer Nina Sayers struggles with her mental health while preparing for her performance in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Natalie Portman earned a Best Actress Oscar in the lead role, and the cast made up of Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder received high praise from critics and audiences.
Darren Aronofsky’sBlack Swanisone of the most widely celebrated psychological horror movies ever, and its influence on the overall horror genre has been notable in the years since its release. It stars Natalie Portman in the lead role as a ballerina locked in an intense competition for the lead role in the New York City Ballet’s production ofSwan Lake, who eventually loses grip on reality and slips slowly into madness due to the pressure she places upon herself.
December 26th, 1973
$12 million
$441.3 million
78%
87%
June 20th, 1975
$9 million
$476.5 million
97%
90%
February 14th, 1991
$19 million
$272.7 million
95%
August 6th, 1999
$40 million
$672.8 million
86%
December 3rd, 2010
$13 million
$329.3 million
85%
84%
February 24th, 2017
$4.5 million
$255.4 million
98%
Portman actually won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 83rd Academy Awards, andBlack Swanultimately garnered five nominations that year, including Best Picture (which it lost to Tom Hooper’sThe King’s Speech). It was also an incredible success at the box office due to its relatively small budget; it earned $329 million on a budget of just $13 million. As great as the narrative is,Black Swanis notable on this list forhow much acclaim went to the performances in the movie as opposed to the screenplay.
Get Out
Jordan Peele made his directorial Horror debut with Get Out, a terrifying Psychological Horror film starring Daniel Kaluuya. In the 2017 release, Chris Washington heads to Upstate New York to meet the family of his girlfriend, Rose. What follows is a horrifying ordeal for the anxious photographer.
Jordan Peele has become one of the most highly-touted directors of the last decade, and his rise to fame began withGet Out. Previously a comedy actor and writer, Peele made his directorial debut with the psychological horror film that receivedwidespread acclaim for its social critiques told through a horror lens and wildly original screenplay.Get Outdelivers scathing criticism of post-racial America and neoliberalism, which Peele disseminates through a script that deftly balances horror and humor.
Get Outalso acted as the breakout role for Daniel Kaluuya, who has since gone on to earn many more award nominations in addition to his Best Actor Oscar nomination for the critical and box office hit.Get Outearned a total of four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, which it lost to Guillermo del Toro’sThe Shape of Water. It hasn’t yet earned any long-term recognition at the level of a National Film Registry preservation, butGet Outis among the most influential Best Picture nominees of the last 30 years thanks to the cultural conversation it sparked.
The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling, portrayed by Jodie Foster, as she seeks the help of imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, to solve a series of gruesome murders. Directed by Jonathan Demme, this 1991 psychological thriller delves into the dark world of criminal profiling and the complex relationship between a young investigator and a brilliant, but dangerous, psychopath.
The only true horror movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture is Jonathan Demme’sThe Silence of the Lambs. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling,The Silence of the Lambsis widely regarded as one of the most influential films of the 20th century, and Hannibal Lecter among its greatest villains. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry due to the impact it made on culture and cinema.
The Silence of the Lambsremains the only true horror movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and despite horror’s growing acceptance, it seems likely it will remain so.
Hopkins and Foster’s psychological cat-and-mouse interactions are often cited as some of the finest dialogue and acting performances of any movie, much less any horror movie. Both Hopkins and Foster have earned Academy Award nominations and victories for movies besidesThe Silence of the Lambs,making the duo one of the most highly-decorated pair of leads in movie history. Ted Levine also garnered acclaim for his performance as the twisted serial killer “Buffalo Bill”, who acts as the movie’s true primary villain.
The movie is based upon Thomas Harris' 1988 novel of the same name, makingThe Silence of the Lambsone of the greatest literary adaptations of all time as well.The Silence of the Lambsis particularly noteworthy asone of only three films to ever win Academy Awards in five of the major categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.The Silence of the Lambsremains the only truehorrormovie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and despite horror’s growing acceptance, it seems likely it will remain so.
