Are you a horror movie fan? Do you love to be spooked and terrified by monsters, zombies, spirits, demons, ghosts, aliens, clowns, dolls, strangers with hockey masks, people wielding chain saws or possessed little girls with long, dark hair?
If so, why do you like films that might make you scream or check under your bed at night?
Do you have any favorite scary movies? Classics like “Dracula,” “Night of the Living Dead” or “Silence of the Lambs”? Or maybe more recent ones like “Get Out” and “M3GAN”?
If you’re not a horror buff, why is that?
In the guest essay “The Movies the Oscars Are Too Scared to Celebrate,” published last month when the Academy Award nominations were announced, Zach Schonfeld argues that horror films deserve more respect, especially from the Oscars:
For fans of scary movies, 2024 was an extraordinary year. Vital and thrilling horror films, such as “Nosferatu,” “Red Rooms,” “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Longlegs,” all earned critical respect and box office success. Yet you’d barely know this from the Oscar nominations, which were announced Thursday morning.
With the exception of “The Substance,” that rare academy-approved gore-fest that scored five nominations, including best picture, very few of last year’s notable horror films were recognized in the major categories — a continuation of a long-running snubbing by the Oscars that’s gone from curious to downright shameful.
This refusal to acknowledge an entire genre feels especially out of touch at a time when horror is not only critically ascendant but also especially attuned to our feelings of ambient dread. We’re living in an age of real-life terrors — climate catastrophe, political unrest, tech-driven dehumanization — so it’s no wonder that many of the most exciting filmmakers working today are using the vocabulary of horror to reflect our moment’s anxieties and maybe help us process them.
Mr. Schonfeld continues:
Not all horror movies are created equal, as the term can plausibly encompass everything from the most brazen teensploitation flicks to “The Silence of the Lambs,” the only horror film to win best picture. For my purposes, I’m including any film that’s primarily designed to frighten or unnerve its audience through dark and disturbing subject matter. Even given that relatively narrow definition, only seven horror films have been nominated for best picture since the Academy Awards began in 1929 — including, this year, “The Substance,” an unholy fusion of art-house ambition and B-movie gore from the French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat.
A partial list of essential American horror movies that were ignored entirely by the Oscars can start with “Dracula” in 1931 and continue through 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead” and “The Shining” in 1980 from the director Stanley Kubrick. At the 1987 Oscars, David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” was nominated only in the makeup category, leaving its star Jeff Goldblum so disappointed that he had to discuss the snub with his psychoanalyst.
This year’s best picture nomination for “The Substance” might seem like a positive step. The body-horror film, about a washed-up actress who seeks a respite from aging that has horrifying consequences, combines the memorably disgusting with bracing social critique, and along with best picture it earned nominations for its star, Demi Moore, and its director, Ms. Fargeat.
Yet “The Substance” continues a tradition in which the academy embraces horror only when voters can focus on everything but the horror: a pointed social message, an obvious allegorical lesson, an actor’s overdue comeback narrative.
Students, read the entire Opinion essay and then tell us:
Are you a fan of horror films? What do you like most about the genre, which the author defines here as “any film that’s primarily designed to frighten or unnerve its audience through dark and disturbing subject matter”? Do you have any favorite horror movies? Are there any films you find too scary to watch?
If you’re not a fan of the genre, what is it about these films that you dislike? What kinds of movies appeal to you instead?
Mr. Schonfeld writes that “the thrill of a great scare comes from a deep and primal place.” Do you agree? Whether you like horror films or not, why do you think they are so popular with audiences, especially younger ones? Why do so many people love to be frightened and unnerved?
Mr. Schonfeld writes, “We’re living in an age of real-life terrors” … “so it’s no wonder that many of the most exciting filmmakers working today are using the vocabulary of horror to reflect our moment’s anxieties and maybe help us process them.” Do you think that movies, horror or otherwise, can help us process our fears and anxieties? Can you think of any films that helped you?
Mr. Schonfeld calls this “a golden age for frightening films” and argues that the horror genre has “long deserved to be treated as real cinema, with the Oscar recognition to match.” Do you agree? Why or why not? Should horror movies get more respect from the general public, film critics and the Academy Awards?
Have you seen any of the horror films from 2024 discussed in the essay, such as “Nosferatu,” “Longlegs” or “The Substance”? Would you give any a thumbs-up? Which, if any, do you think deserve Oscar recognition?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
