Horror at the Oscars (Part Three)

Oscar-Worthy Horror: Every Single Horror Film to Win (& Be Nominated for) Academy Awards

 

Part Three: Finally, A Best Picture!

 

It may seem like the 80’s started off a bit slow, but believe it or not, horror was starting to earn more respect from the Academy by this point. Even though they didn’t win big, The Exorcist, Jaws, and Alien getting acknowledged at all were major steps forward, and An American Werewolf in London (1981), a film which both paid tribute to the Universal classics and infused writer/director John Landis’ cutting comedic sensibilities with genuine horror, nabbed a major win. Rick Baker was the first recipient of the Oscar for Best Makeup, and seeing as his werewolf transformation remains unsurpassed even to this day, this is one of the most timeless wins in Oscars history. Another early 80’s horror classic that nabbed a few nominations was Poltergeist (1982) – nominated for Best Original Score for Jerry Goldsmith, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.

Though it’s not a horror film, I have to give a shoutout to Ghostbusters (1984). It’s a supernatural comedy, but it’s a certified classic, and has some of the most memorable movie monsters from the entire decade, so its nomination for Best Visual Effects feels very deserved. Ray Parker Jr. was also nominated for Best Original Song. “Who you gonna call?” You know the rest.  You might think there’s not much else to cover in this decade, but the 59^th Academy Awards was actually the biggest year for 1980s horror, with some unique wins and nominations. 

Let’s start with Aliens (1986). The first Alien was a big surprise, and the long-awaited sequel was regarded by many as even better. I don’t think the argument for Aliens trumping Alien is validated by the fact that it was nominated for more awards, but it is notable this time for the lead getting some deserved recognition. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress, which was the most significant acting nomination for a horror film since Carrie ten years earlier. In addition, James Horner was nominated for the first time for Best Original Score, which is amazing considering he whipped it up in only three weeks, and other nominations included Best Sound, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing. It went on to win two trophies: Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects, the latter being the second win for the franchise in this category.

Then there was David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly (1986), which is one of the only post-black-and-white-era remakes to get awards attention and actually win something, too. Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis won for Best Makeup, and rightfully so, because just like Rick Baker’s work on American Werewolf, it remains as frightening and disgusting today as it was back then. A horror sequel was nominated for Best Visual Effects: Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), right alongside the musical remake Little Shop of Horrors (1986). Finally, Jaws director Steven Spielberg received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. This all happened in one year! 1986 really was a red letter date for horror at the Oscars.  

The rest of the 80’s was less remarkable. Fatal Attraction (1987) was a very big deal when it came out, garnering six nominations: Best Picture, Best Director for Adrian Lyne, Best Actress for Glenn Close, Best Supporting Actress for Anne Archer, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. This is another one that is really more of a thriller, but that ending is what makes it memorable as a scary movie. Predator (1987) was nominated for Best Visual Effects, and Beetlejuice (1988) won for Best Makeup. Neither of those movies were pure horror, either. Finally, at the 63^rd Academy Awards, Jaws producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck were given the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award—not just for their work on Jaws, but that certainly stands out as their finest production: the troubled killer shark movie that could.

Before I get to the one you’ve all been waiting for, there was another big acting surprise right at the start of the 90’s. Misery (1990) was the second Stephen King adaptation to get a nomination. Kathy Bates won Best Actress for playing Annie Wilkes: one of his most unsettling creations, deftly directed by Rob Reiner and playing off an excellent James Caan as enslaved author Paul Sheldon. Flatliners (1990) was also nominated that year for Best Sound Effects Editing, but who cares about that? Let’s finally get to the 64^th Academy Awards!

For the first time in Oscars history, a red-blooded horror film swept the competition. I bet author Thomas Harris had no idea his book would be made into such a well-crafted and successful picture, especially after the adaptation of his previous book, Manhunter, went mostly unnoticed. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) won Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally, and was also nominated for Best Sound and Best Film Editing. Not only did it win top honours, but it won five out of the seven categories it was nominated for: truly unprecedented. Even beyond being the first horror movie to do so, it was only the third film in Oscars history to win the “Big Five” main categories, genres aside. Silence of the Lambs cast such a large shadow over the awards that it’s easy to forget two other horror-adjacent films were nominated that year, as well: Martin Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear (1991) for Best Actor for Robert de Niro, and The Addams Family (1991) for Best Costume Design.

The Silence of the Lambs has been downplayed by many as just a thriller, but my argument has always been that if one of the main characters is a cannibal who wears the face of another man to escape prison and the primary antagonist is a serial killer creating a suit made of women’s skin, there’s no denying it belongs in the horror genre. It really is prestige horror, though, creating such a sense of cold dread, with immensely compelling performances, artful violence, and sadistically clever writing, all going back to that wonderfully adapted screenplay by Tally based on Harris’ already excellent novel.

There was nothing that came as close to that high-profile victory early in the decade for the rest of the 90’s, but there were a couple winners who left their own mark. Many of the other wins were new takes on classic tales. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), one of the most lavish adaptations of the novel from Francis Ford Coppola, won Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Costume Design, winning three of four categories, only losing for Best Art Direction. Speaking of vampires, Interview with the Vampire (1994) was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction two years later. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) was nominated for Best Makeup the same year, and Sleepy Hollow (1999) received three nominations at the end of the decade. It won Best Art Direction and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.

There were also some less conventional 90’s nominees, such as one of two films released the same year from director Steven Spielberg (the other of which, Schindler's List, won Best Picture). Jurassic Park (1993) won Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. While it isn’t strictly horror, it’s from the guy who scared a whole generation from going in the ocean, and then scared a whole new generation with the most realistic dinosaurs ever seen in cinema. Alien 3 (1992) was nominated for Best Visual Effects, but lost to Death Becomes Her, making it the first Alien movie up to that point to not pick up any Oscars. A film clearly inspired by Silence of the Lambs (and also often argued for being less horror and more thriller) was Seven (1995), and it was nominated for Best Film Editing, making it the second of three films from director David Fincher to get awards attention in the 90’s—or the first, if you ask him, because he rejects having any association with Alien 3. Finally, there was The Sixth Sense (1999): nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay for M. Night Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actress for Toni Collette, and Best Supporting Actor for Haley Joel Osment. Although it didn’t win anything, it put Shyamalan on the map, just like Jaws did for Spielberg nearly 25 years earlier.

As we move out of the 20^th century and into the 21^st, we will see a shift in the kinds of horror films that got awards attention, because the genre was in a sad state by the end of the 90’s. Even through the rough patches there were surprising standouts that started to mix in other genres, with interesting results.