Despite the odds, there have been Oscars for horror films. Are more on the way?
LA Times“Guillermo Del Toro once told me that Terry Gilliam had sat him down at Cannes when presented ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ and said, ‘You’ll never get close to awards with this type of movie,’ ” recalls “It Chapter 2” producer Barbara Muschietti. “A lot of people don’t think horror is a legitimate storytelling method,” says John Palisano, author and president of Horror Writers Assn. “At some point in everyone’s life they see a horror movie that isn’t for them,” says “Us” director Jordan Peele, whose 2017 “Get Out” shattered both box-office and awards expectations last year, earning a best picture nomination and an original screenplay win for Peele at the Oscars. Focusing on two clashing lighthouse keepers stranded at their rocky outpost, the film “uses many horror genre tropes,” he says, “but I personally don’t see it as a horror movie. Not run of the mill.” However classified by the filmmakers themselves, well-made, thoughtful and well-acted horror films are not unheard of during award season: “Psycho” earned four Oscar nominations, “Rosemary’s Baby” won one, “The Exorcist” won two, and “The Silence of the Lambs” won five, including best picture.