Ryan Coogler’s Sinners might not win all of the 16 Oscars it’s up for this weekend, but it’s definitely going to pile up quite a few. Either way, Sinners is already the very rare horror film to be acknowledged by the Academy, which tends to overlook genre films beyond the craft and technical categories.
And even beyond that, Sinners is the extremely rare vampire film to get Oscar love. But while it’s a trailblazer for many reasons, there are a few notable titles that helped pave the way for Sinners’ seductive, gruesome, creature-filled extravaganza.
Nosferatu (2024)
Robert Eggers’ intense attention to period-perfect detail helped Nosferatu notch nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Bill Skarsgård’s go-for-broke performance as the title vampire failed to get recognition, but we all know that the Best Makeup and Hairstyling nomination had everything to do with Skarsgård’s luxurious Nosferatu mustache.
El Conde (2023)
Pablo Larraín’s offbeat horror comedy imagines that notorious 1970s Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was actually a 250-year-old French vampire named “Claude Pinoche.” It was nominated for Best Cinematography, a stamp of approval that hopefully attracted even more eyeballs to what can only be described as a one-of-a-kind blend of political satire and the supernatural.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Here’s another “what if” scenario with a vampire component. E. Elias Merhige’s clever twist on Hollywood history revisits the filming of the 1922 silent classic Nosferatu but asks, “What if Max Schreck, the actor playing the vampire, were an actual bloodsucker?” John Malkovich is typically fantastic as famed director F.W. Murnau, but it’s Willem Dafoe’s creepy turn as Schreck/Count Orlok that left the biggest impression.
He got a Best Supporting Actor nomination (his second in that category after Platoon), and Shadow of the Vampire also got a nomination for the makeup that helped bring Dafoe’s mysterious character so eerily to “life.”
Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Before it was a cult-beloved TV series on AMC, it was a best-selling book by Anne Rice—and, oh yeah, a feature film starring Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Tom Cruise, the latter of whom’s casting was wildly controversial at the time. It earned nominations for Best Art Direction (so much decaying New Orleans glamour and desiccated Paris glamour) as well as Best Original Score for Elliot Goldenthal, who didn’t win for this but later picked up an Oscar in the same category for Frida.
Dunst’s breakout performance earned a lot of critical acclaim but no Academy recognition; Pitt and Cruise did win “Worst Screen Couple” at the Razzies, though.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Francis Ford Coppola’s lavish adaptation of the most famous vampire novel is now mostly remembered for Gary Oldman’s performance as the Count (campy but good) and Keanu Reeves’ performance as Jonathan Harker (campy but bad… but like, good-bad).
However, the film scored a trio of Oscar wins: Best Costume Design for Eiko Ishioka’s gorgeous Victorian gowns, capes, suits, and vampire couture; Best Sound Editing for all those howls and slurps and screams; and Best Makeup, highlighted by Oldman’s shape-shifting range of ages and monstrous transformations.
It also got a nod for Best Art Direction (an award now known as Best Production Design), but somehow Howards End walked away with that one.
Honorable mention: Let the Right One In (2008)
Despite racking up a slew of critics’ group wins and a BAFTA nomination for Best Film Not in the English Language, this searing tale of a young-looking vampire, the father figure who protects her, and the (actually) young neighbor who falls for her failed to crack the Academy Awards.
It wasn’t even Sweden’s pick for its Oscar submission that year. But Let the Right One In, based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, did get that rarest of accolades in the end: an American remake (2010’s Let Me In) that actually didn’t suck. No pun intended.
And just so you have your scorecard ready, here’s a list of everything Sinners is nominated for at the 98th Oscars, happening this Sunday, March 15: Best Picture, Best Director (Ryan Coogler), Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan, who played a dual role in the film), Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo), Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Casting, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects, Original Score, and Original Song (“I Lied to You”).
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