This post was updated March 22 at 8:19 p.m.
The notoriety of “Sinners” at the 98th Academy Awards may signal a directional shift for the Oscars, finally giving the horror genre the hype it deserves.

The 2025 Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack received 16 nominations and four wins. “Sinners,” a period drama set in the 1930s, features the brothers as they return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, during the Jim Crow era. Diving into layers of African American history in the Deep South, including Christianity and musical spirituality, and highlighting the power of Blues Music, the vampire horror film received a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and made over $365 million at the box office.

[Oscars 2026: ‘One Battle After Another’ wins 6 awards, Michael B. Jordan claims Best Actor]

Oscar nominations flooded in the wake of “Sinners’” success, resulting in monumental wins for horror and film fans alike. In addition to his acclaimed career, writer and director Ryan Coogler won Best Original Screenplay, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw won Best Cinematography, becoming the first woman of color to receive this nomination and the first to win this award. This win for Arkapaw came as an upset, as Michael Bauman won equivalent awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Cinematography Guild for “One Battle After Another.” For his first-ever nomination, Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor. Lastly, Swedish musician Ludwig Göransson won Best Score – his third win in this category – which was also the Oscar he won while working with Coogler on “Black Panther” in 2018.

Overall, Coogler’s film garnered 229 wins and 440 nominations during this awards season, demonstrating the significant and deserved attention surrounding his folk horror film. Alongside Jordan, “Sinners” stars famous Hollywood actors like Hailee Steinfeld as Mary, Wunmi Mosaku as Annie, Miles Caton as Sammie Moore and Jack O’Connell as Remmick.

Jordan’s win reflects the upward trajectory of his career. He is now the sixth Black actor to receive the highly esteemed Best Actor in a Leading Role Award, with Jordan’s name now alongside Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith. Coogler has played a significant role in Jordan’s career, as his role as Oscar Grant in Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” in 2013 brought widespread Hollywood recognition. The two have also worked together on three other blockbuster films: “Creed” (2015), where Jordan starred as Adonis Creed and helped revitalize the “Rocky” franchise, “Black Panther” (2018) and its sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022), in which Jordan played villain Erik Killmonger.

This actor-director collaboration not only created potent films but also largely contributed to the success of “Sinners.” Since the first Oscar award show in 1929, some film genres – such as epics and biographical dramas – have consistently received accolades, while others, like horror and sci-fi, struggle to do the same. Horror snubs at past Oscars include Toni Collette in “Hereditary,” Lupita Nyong’o in “Us,” Essie Davis in “The Babadook” and Florence Pugh in “Midsommar,” all of which had immense potential but could not bring home the gold.

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Multiple other horror films made nominations this year, indicating a possible shift in horror prestige at the Oscars. Amy Madigan received the Oscar for Supporting Actress for her role as Aunt Gladys in “Weapons,” Guillermo del Toro’s remake of “Frankenstein” received nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best Leading Actor for Jacob Elordi, and Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” received four nominations for Best Picture, Best Lead Actress for Emma Stone, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Only eight horror films have been nominated for Best Picture, with “The Silence of the Lambs” as the sole winner. While horror films have historically lacked in major Oscar categories, there have been notable wins for films such as “The Exorcist” (1974), “Jaws” (1976), “Alien” (1980), “Misery” (1991), “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1993) and “Get Out” (2018).

Combating the perception of horror films holding a lesser-than status at the Oscars, “Sinners” came out from an underdog position to gain a record-breaking number of nominations and several wins this year. The role of Jordan and Coogler as a movie-making power duo also cannot be understated, and after revitalizing the status of horror in Hollywood, Jordan and Coogler are truly a pair to follow in upcoming films.

The success of “Sinners” at this year’s Oscars award show indicates the Academy may no longer be scared of horror films.