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We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Hereditary

There was a time when films like Psycho, The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby were treated with respect, not just by critics, but by Hollywood and the Oscars. As the 1970s wore on and the 1980s brought forth an onslaught of slasher pictures, the genre began to lose that carefully cultivated respect. While the original Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street were respected by critics, Hollywood and the Oscars had long turned its back on the genre.

It wasn’t until 1990 that horror made a return, even if it was only for a two-year span when Kathy Bates won the Oscar for Best Actress followed the next year by The Silence of the Lambs claiming the big five (Picture, Directing, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay). While the latter was more of a psychological thriller than a traditional horror film, it was the last one genuinely seen as an Oscar competitor until last year’s Get Out broke the mold and brought the genre screaming back into respectability at the Oscars. It was the culmination of several years of well respected horror films making waves with critics and finally breaking through to the Oscars. Will that continue with Hereditary? There’s a possibility, but not likely a big one.

Toni Collette is receiving some of the best notices of her career in the film and may end up the film’s lone Oscar contender, sure to pick up a smattering of critics’ nods and perhaps an award or two. Of course, we’re only half way through the year and there are plenty of potential Best Actress contenders coming down the pike, so it could be early wishful thinking. However, if the buzz can continue through the end of the year and the buzz build further, we could be looking at Collette’s second Oscar nomination, both of which will be for horror films (her first nomination was almost twenty years ago for The Sixth Sense.

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