Why Do the Oscars Ignore Horror Movies?

2024 was a fantastic year for horror film lovers. Movies like "Nosferatu, " "Red Rooms, " "I Saw the TV Glow, " and "Longlegs" wowed critics and audiences alike. But you wouldn't know it from this year's Oscar nominations. The Academy seemed to have a blind spot for horror again, except for the rare gore-fest called "The Substance, " which got five nominations, including best picture. This snubbing of horror films by the Oscars has been going on for a long time. It's peculiar because horror is more popular and relevant than ever. We live in scary times with real-life horrors like climate change, political turmoil, and technology making life feel less human. So, it makes sense that many filmmakers today use horror to reflect our fears and help us deal with them. If the 1940s was the time of film noir, the 1950s of westerns, and the 1970s of paranoid thrillers, then our time is the golden age of horror films. The genre has earned the right to be seen as true cinema, and it deserves Oscar recognition.