Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, and More: 5 Times the Oscars Snubbed Incredible Horror Performances in the Last Decade
Although many horror movies are pop culture staples, critics often brush over them during awards season. Although this past year has been full of memorable additions to the genre, fans are already speculating that buzzworthy actors like Mia Goth will not receive nominations for their scene-stealing performances.
Ahead of the 2022 Academy Awards, here are five times the Oscars snubbed some seriously impressive horror performances in recent years.
Mia Goth is receiving Oscar buzz for her chilling nine-minute monologue in ‘Pearl’
Pearl, the sequel to director Ti West’s well-received slasher-thriller X, hit theaters in September and stars Mia Goth as the titular character. In the film, Goth plays a sadistic young wife-turned-cold-blooded-killer living on a farm with her family in 1918. Toward the end of the movie, Goth delivers a spine-tingling monologue. The speech shares her character’s murderous tendencies with her sister-in-law Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro).
Since its premiere, Goth’s nine-minute monologue has generated Oscar buzz online. Fans hope her turn in Pearl will finally land the 28-year-old actor a nomination. But sadly, many already predict that the Academy will snub Goth’s performance.
The reason? Awards season notoriously ignores horror. This is likely because the genre isn’t taken as seriously as drama, romance, or biography.
Pearl certainly has fun during its 102-minute runtime, with comedic beats such as Pearl having sex with a scarecrow, to her surrealist fantasies of becoming a world-renowned dancer. The nuances of campy horror movies arguably have yet to receive their due in an established critical setting. This means it’s safe to assume Pearl likely won’t make the cut for this year’s Oscars.
Five times actors have been snubbed for impressive horror performances
Florence Pugh flexed her acting muscles in A24’s Midsommar. It went on to become one of the top-rated horror-thriller movies of 2019.
Directed by Ari Aster, Pugh plays the tormented Dani who joins her boyfriend (Jack Reynor) on a research trip to Sweden to experience the annual Midsommar festival. She eventually learns that the community is hiding dark secrets. Despite widespread praise for her portrayal, neither Pugh nor the movie received a single Oscar nomination.
Lupita Nyong’o led the cast of the Jordan Peele-directed Us. The film follows the story of a family who come face-to-face with sinister versions of themselves while on vacation. Peele earned some love from the Academy in 2017 thanks to his directorial debut Get Out.
However, even the show-stopping performance of Nyong’o as the seemingly normal wife and mother, Adelaide Wilson, in addition to playing Adelaide’s terrifying doppelgänger, Red, wasn’t enough to get a nod at the Academy Awards.
Toni Collette also starred in an Ari Aster-helmed project: 2018’s nightmarish horror-drama, Hereditary. Her bone-chilling portrayal of grieving mother Annie Graham was tense, terrifying, and Oscar-worthy to many. Many movie buffs consider Hereditary one of the most frightening modern horrors. Sadly, the Academy skipped over it.
Anya Taylor-Joy was 18 when Robert Eggers cast her in the leading role of 2015’s horror-drama film, The Witch. Also deemed one of the better witch movies to come out of recent times, Taylor-Joy plays Thomison, who’s accused of practicing dark witchcraft after her family suffers a series of tragedies.
Today, Taylor-Joy is one of the most in-demand actors working in Hollywood. She’s won a Golden Globe Award, Primetime Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Award. But she has not received an Oscar despite her impressive turn in The Witch.
Essie Davis headlined the smash-hit horror phenomenon, The Babadook, which haunted viewers upon its release in 2014. The film follows Davis’ character, Amelia, and her son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman) after they find an eerie children’s book titled Mister Babadook in their basement. The Babadook is frequently at the top of horror fans’ rewatch lists. It did not relieve any Oscar nods.
How many horror movies have won an Oscar?
Surprisingly, not many. Spooky classics such as Jaws, Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, and Alien received nods from the Academy. The Exorcist was the first horror movie ever nominated for Best Picture, as Collider reports.
But perhaps the most well-known horror-thriller flick to take home the prestigious honor is Jonathan Demme’s 1991 classic Silence of the Lambs. Not only did the movie win Best Picture at the 1992 Oscars; Jodie Foster also won her first Oscar for Best Actress, Anthony Hopkins snagged Best Actor for his bone-chilling portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and Demme was also awarded Best Director, as IMBd reports.
The film adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling horror novel Misery remains one of the scariest movies to earn an Oscar. Kathy Bates’ performance as unhinged superfan Annie Wilkes landed her a Best Actress award. She beat out nominees Anjelica Huston, Julia Roberts, and even Meryl Streep in that year’s category.
More recently, visionary comedian-gone-horror director Jordan Peele earned four Oscar nominations in 2017 for his critically-acclaimed film Get Out. He also made history by becoming the first Black winner of the Best Original Screenplay Award.
