Horror Is Having a Well-Deserved Oscar Moment

Fans of horror films can usually count on two things: a packed theater and Oscar snubs.

That’s why Thursday’s nominations felt like a long-overdue turning point. Sinners led with 16 nods, Frankenstein pulled in nine, and Weapons snagged one — many of them in the prestige categories of writing, directing, and acting, where the Academy has a history of ignoring the genre.

Every once in a while, a film breaks out to capture the cultural zeitgeist and earn one or more nominations, including The Exorcist (1973), The Fly (1986), Aliens (1986), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017). But these are exceptions rather than the rule. Further, many of the genre’s awards have been for costume design, visual effects, or makeup — categories that, while vital to storytelling, are distinct from the big prizes that crown careers and canonize films.