Sinners and Frankenstein win big at the Oscars in a huge night for horror
- Brian Fanelli
- Mar 16
- 3 min read
While horror fans have long felt underrepresented at the Oscars, and for good reason, the 98th Academy Awards gave genre fans plenty to celebrate. Sinners had a record-breaking 16 nominations and took home several awards. Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein also won big, and a few horror-adjacent movies snagged awards, too. And while it's certainly easy to brush off awards shows, it's great that the Academy really recognized the genre's impact and contributions this year. Here are some of the horror highlights from the 98th Academy Awards.
Amy Madigan wins an Oscar for her role as Aunt Gladys
Weapons was everywhere last year. The run that the children do, with their arms extended like airplanes, was turned into a meme and is lampooned in the new trailer for Scary Movie. The first award of the night went to Amy Madigan for her unforgettable performance as the movie's villain, Aunt Gladys. Madigan's character is a witch that essentially feeds on children to stave off aging. She's both campy and terrifying in her performance.
Weapons' cultural influence was felt from the get-go because host Conan O'Brien spoofed the movie by dressing up as Aunt Gladys. Mirroring one of the final scenes in Weapons, a group of children chased him through scene after scene, most of which were from this year's Best Picture nominees. This opening joke was hilarious and also underscored the impact of the horror genre on this year's ceremony.
Sinners wins big
While it was always unlikely that Sinners was going to win all 16 awards it was nominated for, the movie still did really well. In fact, not only did writer/director Ryan Coogler's historical vampire movie make history for its 16 nominations, but Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as the first woman to win the Best Cinematography category. Here are the other Academy Awards that the film won.
Best Score
Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler)
Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan)
While horror fans may have wanted Coogler to win Best Director and for the film to win Best Picture, those awards went to One Battle After Another, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's social/political film that's also a very loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland.
Frankenstein also wins several Oscars
Frankenstein seems like the movie that Guillermo del Toro always wanted to make, due to his love of monsters and impressive horror museum, featuring several props from the classic Universal Monster movies. His sprawling adaption for Netflix is fairly faithful to Shelley's 19th Century novel, other than the ending and a few changes regarding the characters. The film won in several categories. Here is a breakdown.
Best Production Design
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Costume Design
Like all of del Toro's movies, Frankenstein is a gorgeous looking film, with stunning and period-accurate costumes, as well as elaborate set designs. It's nice to see the Academy again recognize del Toro's work and contributions to film.
Additional Oscars highlights
KPop Demon Hunters, a horror-adjacent Netflix animated film, also scored some major wins last night. The Korean movie won Best Animated Feature and Best Song for "Golden," which was also performed. Overall, it was a heck of a night for the horror genre. Genre fans should feel seen and certainly celebrate the many wins.
For more horror news, commentary, and reviews, be sure to follow The Horror Lounge on Facebook, Twitter/X (@TheHorrorLounge), and Bluesky (@TheHorrorLounge).
Comments