Horror Invades the Oscars: Every Genre Film Nominated at the 2026 Academy Awards

Holy horror, you guys! In exactly 12 days from now, on Sunday, March 15, the horror genre is going to make history at the 98th Academy Awards ceremony, with a total of four horror films nabbing nominations, and not merely in the superficial categories this time. While 2026 does not represent the first year within the 21st century that the Academy has lifted its previously undisguised bias against the horror genre, it does represent a milestone therein. For the sake of transparency, I haven't yet seen any of the four horror films welcomed into the Academy this year, so this article will be an objective overview of the awards for which they've been nominated. Much like how many Americans naively assumed that racism had come to an end with the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States in 2008, I can more confidently assert that the Academy's long-standing bias against the horror genre, while slightly lifted in 2018 with the embrace of Jordan Peele's directorial debut, Get Out, has been all but officially obliterated. 

Prior to March 4, 2018, the Academy had completely turned a blind eye to the artistic merits of the horror genre in the 21st century. Until then, the last horror film to have been accepted into the Dolby Theatre was M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural magnum opus, The Sixth Sense, which received six Oscar nominations in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Haley Joel Osment, Best Supporting Actress for Toni Collette, Best Director and Original Screenplay for Shyamalan, and Best Editing for Andrew Mondshein. Technically, yes, the Oscar ceremony for The Sixth Sense transpired in 2000, the first year of the 21st century. However, that's because it was released in 1999, making it still a 20th-century horror film, the century when horror was still recognized as valuable and deserving of praise. For the following 18 years, the Academy closed their doors to the genre, dismissing it as empty-calorie schlock undeserving of a place alongside the more "prestigious" genres like straight drama or political thriller. 

That all changed on the night of March 4, 2018, when debuting writer-director Jordan Peele became the first horror filmmaker of the 21st century to receive a fair share of both critical and Academy acclaim for his groundbreaking and blistering takedown of modern racism in Get Out, a psychological nightmare that combined an intoxicating atmosphere of paranoia with social commentary on a subtler, more "liberal" form of racism previously underrepresented in cinema, all while putting a mad-scientist spin on a bodily possession reveal. It remains one of the most thrillingly original and exciting horror films to emerge from the past decade, so much so that not even the horror-hating judges at the Academy could wave their stuffy, pretentious hands at it. As a major plus for Peele in particular and the horror genre in general, Get Out earned four nominations, all in deserving categories: Best Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay for Peele, and Best Actor for Daniel Kaluuya. The nominations would have been big enough on their own, but Get Out actually got to walk away with a golden statuette for its original screenplay, by far its most deserving award, if it could only nab one. 

Over the next two years, two more horror films were nominated for Oscars: John Krasinski's A Quiet Place in 2019 for Best Sound Editing, and Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse in 2020 for Best Cinematography. Neither film won their respective single technical award. Once again, it seemed as though the voters regressed to viewing the horror genre through a most superficial lens, recognizing them more for their technical achievements while withholding their more honorable categories. That finally changed last year at the 97th Academy Awards with Coralie Fargeat's sci-fi body horror hit, The Substance. For the first time since Get Out, The Substance received the appreciation of one of the best films of 2024, earning five nominations: Best Picture, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Actress for Demi Moore, and Best Original Screenplay and Director for Fargeat. To the astonishment of many, including yours truly, it only went home with the Oscar for its most superficial asset (Makeup and Hairstyling), but hey, a win is a win. While Moore was thought to be a shoo-in for Best Actress as a celebration of her career comeback, the Oscar shockingly went to former Ghostface and Manson maniac Mikey Madison for Anora. 

As a result of The Substance's breakthrough, it became the sixth horror film in Oscar history to be nominated for Best Picture, following The Exorcist in 1974, Jaws in 1976, The Silence of the Lambs in 1992, The Sixth Sense in 2000, and Get Out in 2018. To date, the only horror film to have actually claimed the most prestigious title remains The Silence of the Lambs, which doubles as the last of three films in general to have hit the "Big Five" grand slam, winning Best Picture, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, Best Director for Jonathan Demme, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally. 

That may change come the night of March 15, 2026. This year, not just one, but four horror films have been nominated for Oscars, and that's not all. Two horror films are nominated for Best Picture, one of which has broken the record for most nominations ever acquired in Oscar history. If 2026 isn't the year for horror, I don't know which will be. Unfortunately, despite their inclusion of four horror titles, the Academy has still managed to overlook one of the most original and moving horror films I've seen in some time, The Long Walk, which easily deserved a spot in this year's inaugural Best Casting category, as well as Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, and Original Score, but that's a rant for another post.

Without further ado, let's dive into the four horror films that will be celebrated at the 98th Academy Awards ceremony and the individual Oscars for which they've been nominated.

1. Sinners

Ryan Coogler's vampiric historical epic has been nominated for a total of 16 Oscars, breaking the record for most nominations acquired by a motion picture (by two) that had previously been achieved by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, each sharing 14 nominations respectively. Those nominations are: (1) Best Picture, (2) Best Director and (3) Original Screenplay for Coogler, (4) Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, (5) Best Supporting Actor for Delroy Lindo, (6) Best Supporting Actress for Wunmi Mosaku, (7) Best Casting for Francine Maisler, (8) Best Cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, (9) Best Original Score for Ludwig Goransson, (10) Best Original Song ("I Lied to You") for Goransson and Raphael Saadiq, (11) Best Editing for Michael P. Shawver, (12) Best Production Design for Hannah Beachler (Production) and Monique Champagne (Set Decoration), (13) Best Costume Design for Ruth E. Carter, (14) Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, and Shunika Terry, (15) Best Sound for Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, and Steve Boeddeker, and (16) Best Visual Effects for Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, and Donnie Dean. 

Sinners is now the seventh/eighth horror film to be nominated for Oscar's most climactic category, and Michael B. Jordan is the first actor since Daniel Kaluuya to be nominated for a male lead horror performance.

2. Frankenstein

Guillermo del Toro's remake of the most iconic mad-scientist sci-fi monster movie ever made, a longtime passion project for the director, is the second horror film of 2025 to be nominated for Best Picture, making it the seventh/eighth overall in Oscar history. In addition to Best Picture, Frankenstein has been nominated for eight more awards: Best Supporting Actor for Jacob Elordi in the titular role, Best Cinematography for Dan Laustsen, Best Costume Design for Kate Hawley, Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey, Best Original Score for Alexandre Desplat, Best Production Design for Tamara Deverell (Production) and Shane Vieau (Set Decoration), Best Sound for Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, and Brad Zoern, and Best Adapted Screenplay for del Toro.

Jacob Elordi is the first actor to be nominated for a villainous male supporting horror performance since Anthony Hopkins for his Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

3. Weapons

Zach Cregger's second stab at writing and directing a critically acclaimed horror film, following his career-altering solo screenwriting and directorial debut, Barbarian, in 2022, has been nominated for a single Oscar in one of the most prominent categories: Best Supporting Actress for Amy Madigan. For her already-iconic turn as the memorably named Aunt Gladys, Madigan has become the first actress to be nominated for a villainous female horror performance since Kathy Bates, who took home the gold in 1991 for her career-launching performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery. Madigan joins an exclusive club of Oscar-nominated female villains that includes Bates (the only winner thus far), Bette Davis for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and Sissy Spacek for Carrie. 

4. The Ugly Stepsister

True to its title, The Ugly Stepsister appears to be, well, the ugly stepsister of the family of horror films welcomed into this year's ceremony, having earned a single nomination in one of the more superficial categories. Like The Substance before it and Sinners and Frankenstein alongside it, this twisted body-horror interpretation of "Cinderella" has been nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg. In the eyes of the voters, The Ugly Stepsister ranks alongside A Quiet Place and The Lighthouse -- horror films skillfully constructed enough to deserve award recognition, but only in a solo technical achievement. In less than two weeks, we shall find out whether The Ugly Stepsister will hold the distinction of having won said technical award.

Post-Oscar Results

Of the combined 27 nominations racked up by horror this year, three-fourths of the nominated films went home with a total of eight Oscars. The results are as follows:

Sinners

1. Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler
2. Best Cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw
3. Best Original Score for Ludwig Goransson
4. Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan

Frankenstein

1. Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey
2. Best Costume Design for Kate Hawley
3. Best Production Design for Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau

Weapons

1. Best Supporting Actress for Amy Madigan