Genre fans who also happen to be Oscar watchers usually have to console themselves with prizes in the technical categories, though sometimes a sci-fi or fantasy movie will make its presence felt—think Mad Max: Fury Road or Dune: Part One, or Best Picture winners The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Shape of Water, and Everything Everywhere All at Once.
But for every nerdy triumph, there are dozens more snubs. We’ve already looked back at horror and sci-fi performances that were notably passed over for Oscar nominations, but here’s a look back at more outstanding horror films the Academy Awards decided just weren’t worthy of a golden moment—as well as where to stream them.
The Shining (1980)
Stephen King is famously not a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of his novel, a sentiment shared by critics and audiences at the time of its release—as well as the Academy. The Shining, now widely thought to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made, didn’t get a single Oscar nomination.
Let the Right One In (2008)
You’d think this wrenching vampire tale—which took multiple film-festival and critics’ prizes and scored a BAFTA nomination—would have at least notched a place on the Best Foreign Language Film shortlist. But it didn’t even make it that far, since Sweden picked photography drama Everlasting Moments as its submission in the category instead. (It didn’t win either; it didn’t even make the final list of nominees.)
Halloween (1978)
Jamie Lee Curtis finally got her first Oscar nomination—and won—last year as part of the Everything Everywhere All at Once steamroller. But the low-budget film that provided her big-screen debut (and is universally considered one of the scariest and most influential horror films of all time) was way, way too far out of Oscar’s comfort zone to get any attention, despite raking in tremendous box-office returns. At some point, John Carpenter should really be getting one of those honorary Oscars, don’t you think?
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Acting legend Charles Laughton was so disappointed in the reaction to his directing debut that he also made it his directing swan song. Now, of course, this noir-thriller-nightmare is an undisputed classic, featuring Robert Mitchum’s fantastically evil performance as a child-menacing serial killer with memorably evocative knuckle tattoos. Oscar, of course, completely ignored this one.
The Orphanage
Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s harrowing plane-crash drama The Society of the Snow is up for Best International Feature Film this year, but his equally harrowing 2008 ghost story didn’t get any Academy attention, despite racking up multiple Goya Awards.
Us (2019)
We’ve already crabbed about Lupita Nyong’o not getting a Best Actress nomination for this one, but the fact is Jordan Peele’s thought-provoking follow-up to his Best Original Screenplay-winning Get Out received… not a single nomination. It did win tons of critics-group awards, as well as a permanent place in our nightmares (especially anytime we gaze into a mirror in the dark), so that’s a decent consolation prize.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Still the best-known example of a folk horror film, and still as chilling as it was over 50 years ago, Robin Hardy’s British classic made barely a blip when it was first released, despite its intriguing mystery premise and a cast that included the well-known likes of Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland. It was certainly too out-there for the Academy, which ignored this future occupier of many a “top 10 greatest horror” list completely.
You Won’t Be Alone (2022)
Goran Stolevski’s dark but deeply thoughtful tale of a shape-shifting witch is set in 19th century Macedonia, but the film was an international production—which explains why Australia is the country that submitted it for Best International Feature Film consideration. That’s more shine than most of these other films got, but it still didn’t make the list of final nominees.
Scream (1996)
Back in 1996, the best a hit high-school slasher movie with a bitingly clever, self-referential script (directed by a genre legend in Wes Craven) could hope for was dominating the MTV Movie Awards. But if franchise-starter Scream was released today, especially now that Oscar has expanded the real estate on its Best Picture nominee list, who’s to say this nominated-for-nuthin’ title wouldn’t have claimed one of those 10 spots?
The Witch (2015)
Heaps of critical acclaim, a huge box-office haul (especially considering its tiny budget), carefully calibrated performances, and a near-Satanic attention to period detail weren’t enough to turn Oscar’s head. However, the real prize seems to be that writer-director Robert Eggers and star Anya Taylor-Joy both announced their arrival with this movie, and it’d be no surprise to see either of them picking up a statuette eventually.
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