This is a message to the Academy: Are you still afraid of the dark?

Apparently they are despite the fact that we’ve never seen the movies they tell us to..

If Ryan Coogler’s Sinners or Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein make the cut this year, it’ll mark the first time in the Academy Awards’ 97-year history that a horror film has been nominated in consecutive contests.

And honestly—maybe that’s one of the main reasons people have stopped caring about the Oscars.

Sure, we’ll talk about who wins, we’ll share the highlights, we’ll glance at the “Best Picture” list. But let’s be real—most people haven’t even seen these movies. A lot of them are the kind of films critics love and audiences sleep through. Pretentious, overly symbolic, and sometimes just flat-out unwatchable.

Meanwhile, the movies that actually get people talking? They’re the ones with life, adrenaline, and imagination. The action blockbusters of summer. The horror movies that get under your skin.

Take The Black Phone 2 — we just reviewed it, and it was epic. Masterfully done, deeply unsettling, and emotionally sharp. Even Weapons — which wasn’t our pick for the best of the year — had a cinematic energy that felt alive. And yes, Sinners was powerful too. It brought real weight to the horror genre this year.

But that’s the thing: horror has been delivering for decades, and the Academy just refuses to acknowledge it. From Hereditary to The Conjuring, from Get Out to The Black Phone, horror consistently gives us stories that are bold, imaginative, and yes—crowd favorites.

Yet when award season rolls around, horror is treated like the weird cousin who showed up uninvited.

So, if Sinners or Frankenstein manage to claw their way into the Best Picture category, kudos to the Academy for finally giving the genre a little respect.

But don’t hold your breath for the next one. History tells us it might be a long, dark wait before the Oscars dare to honor horror again.

“The Oscars claim to celebrate cinema. But when’s the last time they celebrated fear?”

Maybe this year. For the last time of course.