By MICHAEL GINGOLD
RUE MORGUE is thrilled that a veteran of the genre and a newcomer to horror brought home the gold for fear and the fantastique at the 90th Academy Awards last night.
Guillermo del Toro’s creature romance/thriller THE SHAPE OF WATER went into the ceremony with the top number of nominations (13) and took home four, including Best Picture and Best Director, along with Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Production Design (Paul D. Austerberry, Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin). This was del Toro’s first time up for the directing prize, though his 2006 film PAN’S LABYRINTH was in the running for Best Foreign Language Film; it lost to THE LIVES OF OTHERS, but did take home Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup.
Former comedic actor/writer Jordan Peele overcame a strong lineup of competitors to nab Best Original Screenplay for his breakout chiller GET OUT. He became the first African-American to win that prize, as well as the first writer of a horror film to be nominated for a Best Screenplay statuette since M. Night Shyamalan for 1999’s THE SIXTH SENSE, and the first to win since Ted Tally for 1991’s THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Kudos to del Toro and Peele, and here’s to seeing more genre fare recognized at the Oscars in the future!
Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock
