The night of the Annual Academy awards is always the biggest movie night of the year. It’s a night when millions of people gather together and watch and anticipate who’s going to win Oscars for their performances in movies the majority of the public have yet to see.
Unfortunately, the horror buffs are usually left out of this affair, because the Academy rarely awards Oscars to actors/actresses in a horror film. (At least we got the Scream Awards now!)
The Academy hardly ever recognizes actors from horror/suspense films, yet many past Oscar winners have gotten their start in horror movies. (Tom Hanks, George Clooney, and Jack Nicholson to name some.) As I was looking at this year’s nominees, I noticed that the majority of these actors have been in horror films (both good and bad) and shined and stood out in their past performances as well. (No matter if the dialogue was exceptional or cheesy as hell.)
Here is my personal list of the top ten performances from this year’s Oscar nominees in the genre that we love.
1. Ryan Gosling/Murder by Numbers
I realized how great of an actor this talented Canadian was when I first watched him portray a teenage killer in the thriller, Murder by Numbers. (It was a far cry from his days on “Breaker High,” I’ll tell you!) Even though it was his big screen debut, most critics agreed he stole every scene he was in. Sometimes you’re able to tell if someone is destined to become a star from a performance they give in a movie. After watching just his performance in the interrogation scene of the film, it was clear that Ryan is destined to become one of Hollywood’s A-list.
2. Helen Mirren/Teaching Mrs Tingle
Helen Mirren is a very talented actress who has been in many critically acclaimed films, but she will always be ‘Mrs Tingle” in my eyes. I remember sitting in the movie theatre watching this film, feeling very misled by what I was watching, (the commercials made the movie look like a straight horror film) and it was only this actress’ presence that made me enjoy the film. If they had picked any other actress to play the dreadful and evil History teacher, I probably would have walked out of the theatre in the first twenty minutes.
3. Forest Whitaker/Species
I am glad that Forest Whitaker is finally getting the recognition he so rightfully deserves, because it has been a LONG time coming. I like him in every role I have seen him in, and for some weird reason, I always seem to remember him most from Species. Although he had not much to do with his role as the psychic, he was still able to stand out from the crowd. He made me care for his character and I was shocked yet happy that tbey didn’t kill him off. (The black guy actually made it! Very rare, yet refreshing at the time.)
9. Mark Wahlberg/Fear
After he became the hottest Calvin Klein model ever, and before he was known as the infamous Dirk Diggler, “Marky Mark” caught audience’s attention as the psycho boyfriend to Reese Witherspoon in this 1996 thriller. His menacing role in this movie proved to me at the time, he too had the same great acting abilities his older brother possessed. Although, unlike Donnie, Mark actually gets the recognition he deserves.
5. Cate Blanchett/The Gift
There are two types of people who probably went to this movie in theatres. There were the Sam Raimi geeks, (the group I belonged to) and the men who wanted to see Katie Holmes topless. I really enjoyed this mystery film, and I know a large chunk of it had to do with Cate Blanchett’s portrayal as the psychic/widow in the film. (Keanu Reeves surprisingly played a big role in that too. But he’s not nominated this year for an Oscar, so f*ck him!) I had never been interested in any of Cate Blanchett’s roles before this film, but The Gift made me change my mind and take notice of this very talented actress.
6. Abigail Breslin/Signs
When I had watched Signs, I remembered it being my favorite M. Night Shyamalan at the time, due to its unique take on an alien invasion, but more importantly, because of the acting. The one who impressed me the most in the movie was the little girl who played Mel Gibson’s daughter. She was incredibly cute and adorable, and NOT in the “Welch’s grape juice” way. (God, I hate those f*cking kids!) I, myself am usually quite annoyed by most children in scary movies, and the fact that this “Little Miss Sunshine” didn’t make me annoyed, makes her worthy enough to mention in this article.
7. Jackie Earle Haley/Maniac Cop 3
I remember watching last year’s Little Children, and the experience of the film was completely ruined for me, because I was trying to figure out where I had seen this actor before. I gave up trying to figure it out on my own and looked up his filmography, (God bless IMDB.com!) and surprised to see he played the crazy cokehead who shoots the female cop in the beginning of Maniac Cop 3. (I loved these movies as a child.) He managed to do far better in his role than the late Paul “Don’t mess with the bull” Gleason and one time Academy Nominee Robert Forster did in this cheesy B movie sequel.
8. Dijmon Hounson/Deep Rising
This man has been nominated multiple times for Academy awards and is most known for his portrayal as Amistad, but I will always remember him as Vivo, the criminal that meets his shocking and untimely demise in 1998’s creature feature, Deep Rising. This horror film was filled with gory death scenes, but the only one that completely caught me off guard and made me jump out of my seat was the death of Vivo. Go watch this movie if only for Dimjon’s limited and “head-splitting” performance.
9. Eddie Murphy/Vampire in Brooklyn
Folks, this is my ULTIMATE guilty pleasure. I know this 1995 Wes Craven horror comedy is considered to be “Gigli” bad, but I dug it. (Yes, I am a huge Eddie Murphy fan, regardless of the constant crap he releases) Although, his comedic talents didn’t save this movie from bombing, I always respected the fact that he was willing to try something new despite what the public thought. I do feel though, since the movie has been out a while now, it has a certain Blacula/Def by Temptation campy feel to it, that makes it a more enjoyable watch today. So go ahead and rent this Eddie Murphy horror flick from the lowest point of his acting career….well second lowest.
10. Leonardo Dicaprio/Critters 3
If you are not a Critters fan, there is probably only one thing you know about the series: ‘Leonardo Dicaprio appears in the third installment.’ I, however was a HUGE fan of the series, (well the first two anyways) but all I can remember from the third film was there were Crites attacking people in an apartment and Leonardo Dicaprio being one of them. His presence was the only memorable part of the film. When I first watched this installment when I was a little girl, the first thought in my head was, ‘Why on earth is the funny, homeless kid from Growing Pains in this lame sequel?’ (Although if he had been in Critters 2, I would have thought differently.)
