As most people know, the Rotten Tomatoes website averages critical reviews for films and comes up with a percentage rating. Here are the RT percentages, as of today, for the nine movies nominated for Best Picture for 2012:
Amour - 92%
Argo - 96%
Beasts of the Southern Wild - 86%
Django Unchained - 89%
Les Miserables - 71%
Life of Pi - 89%
Lincoln - 91%
Silver Linings Playbook - 91%
Zero Dark Thirty - 94%
"The Cabin in the Woods" easily topped 2012's list for best horror film, as chosen by the Jacksonville Horror Fans Facebook Group. Yet this movie garnered zero nominations. Why is that? Must be because it's critical ratings were much lower than the above-listed films, right? NO! "Cabin" rates at 92% fresh from RT, tied with one and HIGHER than six of the nine nominated films. Only "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" rate higher averages.
And although "Prometheus" only rates 73% fresh on RT, with negative comments generally citing plot issues, almost every review lauds the film's technical aspects. For example:
"Prometheus is straight-up gorgeous." - Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
"Visually astonishing." - Jeremy Lebens, We Got This Covered
"Artfully designed with special effects that border on the elegant ... a visual delight." - James Plath, Movie Metropolis
"Gorgeous 3D visuals." - Ben Kendrick, ScreenRant
"Jaw-droppingly striking." - Erick Weber
"Very few films can create a genuine sense of wonder and discovery, and Prometheus manages it for its entire 124 minute running time ... almost entirely a sensory experience." - Adam Ross, The Aristocrat
"Ridley Scott ... sure as hell knows how to craft aliens." - Patrick Kolan, Shotgun Critic
"Ridley Scott ... re-established himself as one of our greatest world building filmmakers." - Will Chadwick, We Got This Covered
So, "Prometheus" should definitely clean up on the technical awards (Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects). Right? Well, no. A film has to be nominated to win the awards, and this film - that earned only the highest critical praise on its technical aspects - garnered a whopping one nomination - for Visual Effects.
Chris Eggertsen's 2010 article on Bloody Disgusting lists his most egregious horror Oscar omissions of 100 years. He discusses "Frankenstein," "King Kong," "Bride of Frankenstein," "Cat People," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Psycho," "The Haunting," "Rosemary's Baby," "Alien," "Dawn of the Dead," "Aliens," "The Fly," "Seven" and "28 Days Later."
A May 18, 2012, House of Geekery article lists the following as Oscar-worthy but ignored: "Shaun of the Dead" for Best Screenplay, Marcia Gay Harden for Best Supporting Actress in "The Mist," Robert Shaw for Best Supporting Actor in "Jaws," Belen Rueda for Best Actress in "The Orphanage," Christian Bale for Best Actor in "American Psycho," and "Dawn of the Dead" for Best Picture.
With the one notable exception of 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs," which shockingly won the Big Five, the Academy pretty much likes to pretend horror doesn't even exist. A February 19, 2012, L.A. Times article states the median age of the Academy as 62, and only 14% of the membership is under 50, which may account for horror being ignored. When cleverly scripted and well-crafted horror films like "Cabin in the Woods" are considered inferior just because they are horror, there's definitely a big problem. The Academy needs to wake up and stop disregarding an entire genre.
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