The Substance is the underdog of the Oscar race for a few reasons. While it is a phenomenal movie with a career-best performance from Demi Moore, it is one of the most unconventional nominations for Best Picture this year. The Substance is a visually stunning yet grotesque body horror movie that is unafraid to call out the industry for its treatment and exploitation of women. It’s a damning look at the relationship women have with their age, looks, and body, as well as how society and the industry treat women over these issues. This movie is the best horror movie of 2024, but being a horror movie does not look good for The Substance’s Oscar chances.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Infamously, the Oscars have not been the biggest horror movie fans, especially when it comes to the Best Picture Category. However, there have been a few Oscars, like The Substance, to get a nomination. Even fewer have won, but hopefully, The Substance will change that.
From The Exorcist to Get Out, Only a Few Horror Movies Have Been Nominated for Best Picture
Horror is a broad genre, including the likes of creature features, possession films, slashers, found footage, psychological thrillers, gothic fiction, and more. However, despite this genre being so large, it has only had seven horror movies nominated in the Best Picture category, but that is debatable depending on what someone’s definition of horror is.
The first horror movie nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars is none other than The Exorcist, which came out in 1973 — 44 years after the first Oscars — however, some consider A Clockwork Orange (1971) a horror film given its graphic violence, dystopian setting, and imagery. The Exorcist is a financial and critical success, and its impact is still seen to this day. There are even reports of visceral reactions from audience members at the time, with some allegedly fainting and vomiting. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, but it would only receive two — Best Writing (Adapted) and Best Sound.
Only a couple years after The Exorcist in 1975 would another horror movie — this time a monster movie — capture The Academy’s attention. Jaws was the first movie directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the best directors of all time, to be nominated for Best Picture, but it lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Oscars. However, Jaws did win three out of four of its Academy Award nominations.
Other horror films that have been nominated for Best Picture but did not receive the award include The Sixth Sense, Black Swan, and Get Out. All of these movies had numerous Oscar nominations under their belt. In the case of Black Swan, it even won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Natalie Portman, a category that often overlooks horror performances. Meanwhile Get Out, one of the best movies of 2018, did win in the Best Original Screenplay category, earning Jordan Peele his first Oscar win.
The Silence of the Lambs Is the First Horror Movie to Win an Oscar for Best Picture, but Is It the Only One?
As for the first horror film that won the Oscar for Best Picture, that honor belongs to The Silence of The Lambs. In it, FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is brought in to consult with imprisoned psychiatrist and cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) on a case the FBI is investigating, the case of serial killer Buffalo Bill. Of its seven Academy Award nominations, The Silence of The Lambs took home five — Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Writing (Adapted), and Best Picture.
While considered the first horror movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars, some still debate to this day if it is a horror film, a crime thriller, or something in between. There is another Best Picture winner that blends horror movie elements into its narrative — The Shape of Water. Up front, The Shape of Water is a romance movie unlike any other, with the love interest being a literal creature.
However, this film is a blend of multiple genres — romance, horror, sci-fi, fantasy — so it is not often considered a straightforward horror film, let alone a traditional creature feature. For those who do consider it a horror movie, though, that means there are two horror films to have won best picture. For those who do not, that means there is just one (The Silence of the Lambs) but The Substance can hopefully join these ranks depending on the results of the 2025 Academy Awards.
Do you think The Substance could win Best Picture? Let us know in the comments below!
