The horror genre has so many branches that it has seen a variety of stories, some of them praised by critics and audiences and others not so much, but something that the horror genre has struggled with is getting recognized by the Academy Awards, and so far, only six horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The horror genre is still riding the wave of success that it has been going through in the last years, thanks to a combination of original stories, adaptations of books and other media, remakes, and reboots/requels, the latter being especially popular in big franchises like Halloween and Scream.
The horror genre has seen a lot of memorable performances from a variety of actors and engaging stories that have shaped the genre and its branches and have even influenced filmmakers from other genres, and yet, the world of horror still doesn’t get recognized by the big award organizations in the film industry. The Academy Awards have become known for ignoring the performances of actors in horror movies and the visual and narrative achievements of these projects, and in all Oscars history, only six horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture – and here they are.
6 The Exorcist
Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, with a script by him and directed by William Friedkin, The Exorcist is a classic of cinema in general and one of the greatest horror movies ever made. The Exorcist tells the story of Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), a 12-year-old girl who is possessed by an ancient demon named Pazuzu, so her mother, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), asks Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) to perform an exorcism on her daughter. The Exorcist faced a lot of controversies due to its theme and graphic scenes, with viewers leaving the room and having adverse physical reactions to certain scenes, but all this didn’t stop the movie from getting a lot of praise.
The Exorcist was the first horror movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1974, as well as for Best Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, and Sound. The Exorcist won the Oscar for Best Screenplay but lost Best Picture to The Sting, but it still earned a spot in Oscar history as well as in cinema in general, and it continues to be regarded as one of the scariest movies ever made. The Exorcist made way for a franchise with two prequels, two sequels, and a TV series.
5 Jaws
Just like The Exorcist, Jaws is based on a novel (written by Peter Benchley), and while it’s listed as a thriller, it’s widely considered a horror movie, and one of the best ever made. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws follows police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) as they go after a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at the New England beach town of Amity Island. Jaws was a critical and commercial success, and along with Star Wars, it defined the modern blockbuster, so its legacy is still felt and seen in the film industry.
Also following the steps of The Exorcist, Jaws was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1976, and was also nominated for Best Film Editing, Original Dramatic Score, and Sound, taking all these home except Best Picture, which it lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The success of Jaws made for a franchise with three sequels, though none of them repeated the narrative and visual quality of Spielberg’s horror classic.
4 The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs is a psychological horror movie based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Deme. The Silence of the Lambs centers on Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a young FBI trainee hunting a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), but in order to find him, she’s assigned to interview psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Clarice eventually gets information from Lecter that helps her and her team catch Buffalo Bill, but not without Lecter playing mind games with her and escaping from prison. The Silence of the Lambs was a box office success and has been praised by critics and viewers for decades, and it’s often cited as one of the greatest and most influential films ever.
The Silence of the Lambs was nominated at the 1991 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, and Sound, winning all but the last two, meaning it's also the first horror movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Very much like The Exorcist and Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs spawned a sequel (Hannibal, 2001) and two prequels (Red Dragon in 2002 and Hannibal Rising in 2007), as well as a TV series.
3 The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It’s the story of Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), a child psychologist who begins working with nine-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who confides to Malcolm that he can see dead people, walking around like the living, and these are unaware that they’re dead. Malcolm helps Cole by suggesting he communicates with the ghosts and helps them finish their business, but Malcolm’s story takes a turn when he learns a shocking truth.
The Sixth Sense was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, and Film Editing, but it didn’t win any of these, losing Best Picture to American Beauty. The Sixth Sense introduced the audience to Shyamalan’s narrative style and his affinity for surprise endings, though not all of them have had the same quality and impact as The Sixth Sense’s.
2 Black Swan
Black Swan is a psychological horror movie directed by Darren Aronofsky. It follows ballet dancer Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), who is given the dual lead roles in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, but the pressure to be perfect (to her own standards) starts to have severe consequences on her mental health, made worse by the arrival of another talented dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis). Black Swan was a critical and commercial success, and while it wasn’t safe from a couple of controversies, that didn’t stop it from getting nominations for different awards, including the Oscars. Black Swan was nominated at the 2011 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Actress, only winning the latter thanks to Natalie Portman’s performance. Black Swan lost Best Picture to The King’s Speech.
1 Get Out
Get Out is a psychological horror movie written and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. Get Out follows Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black photographer from New York dating Rose Armitage (Allison Williams), a young white woman. Chris and Rose go to Upstate New York for a weekend with her parents, who Chris is meeting for the first time, but once there, Chris slowly uncovers a series of shocking secrets about the Armitage family and their close friends, which put Chris’ life in great danger. Get Out was a critical and commercial success, and it received various nominations for different awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Original Screenplay at the 2018 Academy Awards. Get Out gave Jordan Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but it lost Best Picture to The Shape of Water.