Horror films have long been overlooked at the Academy Awards, but the 2026 Academy Awards marked a huge change for the genre. sinner, FrankensteinAnd Weapons were among the numerous films that were nominated at the Oscars. Together, these films received 26 nominations, the highest total the horror genre has seen in a single year.
There were a significant number of horror nominations in 2025 The substance, NosferatuAnd Alien: Romulusbut among these films only a single award was won. A year later, horror made an incredibly big comeback sinner, FrankensteinAnd Weapons won a whopping eight Oscars. Having achieved so many milestones, these three films solidified the artistic and groundbreaking potential of horror films.
“Sinners” won Oscar gold this year
sinner made Oscar history long before the awards night. With his genre-bending horror film, director Ryan Coogler (Black panther) scored a record-breaking 16 nominations, including for Best Picture. This broke the previous record of 14 nominations from the 1950s All about Evewith just Titanic And La La Land In the decades that followed, he received just as many nominations.
While Coogler lost out in the Best Picture category for the second time, the writer-director won his first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay sinner. Both sinner and 2017 Exit are now the only horror films to ever win an Oscar in this category.
sinner won three more Oscars over the course of the night. This also includes the award for best cinematography with Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), becoming the first woman and the first black person to win this award. Michael B. Jordan also won his first Oscar for Best Actor after playing not one, but two characters in The Movie sinner: Twin brothers Smoke and Stack.
Additionally, composer Ludwig Göransson won his third Oscar for Best Original Music, having previously won Black panther And Oppenheimer. Göransson’s victory was made sinner the third horror film to go on to win the Best Original Score award Jaw And The Omen.
Frankenstein electrified the Oscars
Director Guillermo del Toro has long been a top Oscar contender, having received multiple nominations over the years and winning Best Picture in 2017 The shape of water. Del Toro continued this trend with his vivid vision Frankensteinwhich received a shocking nine nominations.
This classic gothic horror story has been adapted to film many times, but only three times Frankenstein Films received at least one nomination: The Bride of Frankenstein, Young FrankensteinAnd Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. These films received a total of four nominations, mostly in technical categories such as sound and makeup.
However, del Toros Frankenstein received nominations in premiere categories such as Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. With his nomination in the latter category, Jacob Elordi became the first actor nominated for portraying the tragic and iconic creature from Frankenstein.
At the end of the night, Frankenstein won awards for Best Production Design (Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau), Best Costume Design (Kate Hawley) and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey). This gave the film a total of three gold statues, an impressive total for a horror film at the Oscars.
Weapons won with his secret weapon: Amy Madigan
The second horror film from director Zach Cregger, Weaponswas one of the most profitable and acclaimed films of 2025. The most notable aspect of Weapons was Amy Madigan’s performance as Aunt Gladys, for which she received the film’s only Oscar nomination. Madigan’s mysterious character became an instant icon as she went from crazy to evil, sneaking into people’s homes and taking control with her black magic.
With her win at this year’s Oscars, Madigan becomes the second actress to win Best Supporting Actress in a Horror Film. The first actress to win in this category is Ruth Gordon for her role as the evil Minnie Castevet Rosemary’s baby, already in the late 60s. She and Michael B. Jordan also became two of eight actors to win Oscars for their performances in horror films.
The success of sinner, FrankensteinAnd Weapons at the Oscars signals a growing shift in the perception of horror films. With so many wins and nominations, these three films have been fighting the stigma surrounding horror films for decades. At the same time, they have shown that more and more people appreciate horror as a legitimate art form.
We’ve seen once again that horror films can be considered profound, sophisticated works of cinema and serious Oscar contenders. Thanks to the winners of this year’s Oscars, the Academy may consider nominating more horror films in the near future. This should pave the way for the genre to find greater acceptance and success among mainstream moviegoers.
