10 Horror Films That Beat Genre Prejudice To Win Oscars

9. The Omen (1977) - Best Original Score

One of Hollywood's most successful and productive composers, Jerry Goldsmith wrote the music for such films as Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Alien, Poltergeist, Gremlins, L.A. Confidential and a whole heap of Star Trek.

He was nominated for an incredible 18 Oscars, but only won this one for the score to demon child flick The Omen (giving him one of the least successful nominations to wins ratio of anyone in film). The Omen came as part of the 1970s boom in mainstream prestige horror pictures, something reflected in that year's Oscar nominations as Carrie also picked up acting nominations for both its stars, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.

Did It Deserve To Win?

Possibly. Music plays such a vital part in establishing atmosphere and good horror is all about atmosphere. The Omen's score is certainly iconic, a defining example of the choral-chanting-of-Satanic-nonsense-in-Latin school of horror movie music. This is reflected in Goldsmith picking up another nomination for Best Original Song for Ave Satani, the film's theme. Many imitators, though, have probably diminished its power somewhat. Whether this is the one work Goldsmith deserved to be honoured for above all his others is also not sure.

1977 saw him face off against one of the few film composers more iconic than him, Bernard Herrmann (Goldsmith's score for the Spielberg produced Twilight Zone movie was a pastiche of Herrmann's music for the original show), who had not one, but two nominations for Original Score that year. Compared to Goldsmith, the Citizen Kane and Day the Earth Stood Still composer managed a mere 5 nominations.

All of his genius work with Alfred Hitchcock, including iconic scores for Psycho and Vertigo, was ignored completely by the Academy. The least they could do to make it up to him would have been to give him the 1977 Oscar for Taxi Driver.