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.
WARNING – SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.