Oscar Tributes & Tribulations
I’d like to thank the Academy for throwing a little love our way this year in the form of a tribute montage. But I have a bone to pick with whoever wrote the intro for Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. The Exorcist was the last horror film to win an Oscar? Hardly.
Now everyone has their own definition of “horror”, but Silence of the Lambs - which swept every major award in 1991 - features a cannibal genius and a serial killer bent on making a ‘woman suit’ out of his victims’ skin. That’s horror in my book - as are classics like Misery and Psycho, both of which were featured in the tribute.
Come to think of it, most horror films that get Oscar recognition - Silence, Misery, The Exorcist, Psycho - are (a) based on books, (b) directed by famous directors who made their mark outside the genre, and (c) did really, really well at the box office. When it comes to getting the Academy’s attention, I guess it’s not enough to just make a great, scary movie!
Of course, the real tributes to the genre were the honorary Oscar given to Roger Corman and the Best Director win by Kathryn Bigelow, who holds a special place in our hearts for her amazing vampire flick Near Dark. Congratulations to Roger and Kathryn, and here’s hoping more of our great horror directors get to follow in their Award-winning footsteps soon.
