“You’re really frightened by me!”
In the last few days of researching podcasts in the Podcast category for the Rondo Awards, I listened to a couple of episodes of Colors of the Dark (my ultimate choice). One of the episodes posited a Horror Oscars for the 1990s and while some of their choices were rather sketch (Jeffrey Combs for Best Supporting Actor for The Frighteners?! And I don't even want to go into their picks for Best Song.), the idea took root in my mind, thus inspiring me to give it my best shot for Oscars for horror (and horror-adjacent) movies.
(updated with the winners in bold)
Best Picture
The Devil's Advocate
The Exorcist III
In the Mouth of Madness
Misery
Tremors
Best Actor
Andrew Divoff, Wishmaster
John Lithgow, Raising Cain
Sam Neill, In the Mouth of Madness
Tim Robbins, Jacob's Ladder
Tony Todd, Candyman
Best Actress
Emily Bergl, The Rage: Carrie 2
Virginia Madsen, Candyman
Winona Ryder, Bram Stoker's Dracula
Lili Taylor, The Haunting
Charlize Theron, The Devil's Advocate
Best Supporting Actor
Joe Mantegna, Thinner
Randy Quaid, Freaked
William Sadler, Disturbing Behavior
Max von Sydow, Needful Things
Bruce Willis, Death Becomes Her
Best Supporting Actress
Joan Cusack, Addams Family Values
Elizabeth Pena, Jacob's Ladder
Miranda Richardson, Sleepy Hollow
Isabella Rossellini, Death Becomes Her
Meg Tilly, Body Snatchers
Best Director
Sam Raimi, Army of Darkness
William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist III
John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness
Adrian Lyne, Jacob's Ladder
John Harrison, Tales from the Darkside: the Movie
Best Original Screenplay
Death Becomes Her, written by Martin Donovan & David Koepp
Freaked, written by Tim Burns & Tom Stern & Alex Winter
In the Mouth of Madness, written by Michael DeLuca
The People Under the Stairs, written by Wes Craven
Tremors, screenplay by S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock, story by Ron Underwood and S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock
Best Adapted Screenplay
Addams Family Values, written by Paul Rudnick, based on characters created by Charles Addams
The Devil's Advocate, screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman
The Exorcist III, screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his novel Legion
Gremlins 2: the New Batch, written by Charlie Haas, based on characters created by Chris Columbus
Misery, screenplay by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King
Best Cinematography
Army of Darkness, Bill Pope
Bram Stoker's Dracula, Michael Ballhaus
Cape Fear, Freddie Francis
Child's Play 2, Stefan Czapsky
Misery, Barry Sonnenfeld
Best Editing
Arachnophobia, Michael Kahn
Cape Fear, Thelma Schoonmaker
The Devil’s Advocate, Mark Warner
The Exorcist III, Peter Lee Thompson, Thom Noble and Todd Ramsay
Scream, Patrick Lussier
Best Production Design
Cube
Freaked
The Haunting
Nothing But Trouble
The People Under the Stairs
Best Costume Design
Blade, Sanja Milkovic Hays
The Crow, Arianne Phillips
Hocus Pocus, Mary Vogt
Interview With the Vampire, Sandy Powell
The Mummy, John Bloomfield
Best Original Score
Bram Stoker's Dracula, Wojciech Kilar
Candyman, Philip Glass
The Mummy, Jerry Goldsmith
Needful Things, Patrick Doyle
Sleepy Hollow, Danny Elfman
Best Original Song
"Eat Us", Addams Family Values, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Paul Rudnick and Marc Shaiman
"Mamushka", The Addams Family, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
"Me", Death Becomes Her, music by Geoffrey Aymar, lyrics by Martin Donovan and David Koepp
"Oogie Boogie's Song", The Nightmare Before Christmas, music and lyrics by Danny Elfman
"This is Halloween", The Nightmare Before Christmas, music and lyrics by Danny Elfman
Best Sound
Candyman
The Exorcist III
Jacob's Ladder
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Sleepy Hollow
Best Visual Effects
Army of Darkness
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Devil's Advocate
Gremlins 2: the New Batch
Tremors
Best Make-Up
Freaked
In the Mouth of Madness
Nightbreed
Thinner
Wishmaster
Best International Feature
Cemetary Man (Italy)
Cronos (Mexico)
Cube (Canada)
The Day of the Beast (Spain)
Dead Alive (New Zealand)
Not bad, if I say so myself. To answer the first or second question I'm sure anyone reading this has...maybe I will do this for other decades. It's possible.