With horror movies making a comeback, Jordan Peele's "Get Out" is already awards buzzing; can this full-bloodied Stephen King horror story make it to the Oscar Best Pic Ten?
So, on December 19, 2017, the new version of "IT" will hit digital media and those of us, like myself with Amazon are already queueing our hard-earned dollars to relive one of the best and most-successful horror movies of the year. It is also one of the more successful reboot films of the decade. For those of us with short attentions spans, us 1970's children will indeed remember the chilling 1990 two-part TV miniseries that gave us the brilliant Tim Curry performance of Pennywise, the dancing (and child-eating) clown. Yet, director Andy Muschietti gave us a nuanced, intelligent, human and yes, undeniably scary adaptation of the 1986 Stephen King 1000 plus page bestseller gave us Bill Skarsgård as the voraciously nasty evil Pennywise, this time out, The film has grossed almost $700 million on a $35 million budget and with a second film: "IT: Chapter Two" poised for release in September of 2019. It made my very super-duper short list of the best films of 2017, but, will it even stand a chance at this year's Academy Awards?
Another horror film with wild buzz this year was Jordan Peele's "Get Out" which is already generating buzz as a possible contender. I admittedly haven't seen it yet, but it's on my catch-up list. As a die-hard horror fan, I was thrilled that filmmakers are starting to make quality horror films again, but it would be a stretch to expect a possible nomination for this film. The only Stephen King horror film to win an Oscar was "Misery" in 1990 and that was for Kathy Bates' mesmerizing performance. But other King adaptations weren't so lucky. "Carrie" from 1976 received acting nods for Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, but they lost. Frank Darabont ("The Walking Dead") had the one-two punch of having "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" both earned ceaseless praise and were Best Picture contenders in 1994 and 1999 respectively, but didn't win any. "The Exorcist", "The Silence of the Lambs", "The Sixth Sense" and "Black Swan" were all contenders and all, save "The Sixth Sense" had won Oscars; with "Lambs" the only Best Picture winner so far.
I will be the first to admit I'm not a fan of reboots, but since the source material in questions was a TV miniseries on ABC-TV and not an actual film, I have no qualm about seeing this film receive such recognition. Although, can a very violent, CGI-laden, teens-spewing-profanity with a child-eating clown earn the respect of the American Film Academy? With Peele's film receiving massive accolades and this film being considered by many as one of the best Stephen King adaptations (by many, considering it the best, although Brian De Palma's 1976 film adaptation still stands as the king...or queen), I am somewhat hopeful.
Stay tuned, horror movie lovers.
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