"The Substance" Received Five Oscar Nominations — Here's Why It's A Huge Win For The Horror Genre

Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author's personal views.

The 2025 awards season is officially in full swing, which means there have been plenty of surprises and snubs while celebrating the very best in film from the last year.

One movie that is beloved and getting so much well-deserved recognition is The Substance. The horror movie follows Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity who is suddenly offered the chance to try a black market drug that will create a much younger version of herself.

Directed and written by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, the film has received critical acclaim and so much online buzz since it premiered at Cannes in early 2024 and then hit theaters in September.

This awards season, it has become a not-so-quiet underdog, with the movie, Coralie, Demi, and Margaret all receiving nominations at several major awards shows.

And what makes the Academy Awards nominations for The Substance so important is it feels like a real turning point for how the Academy voters see genre films, particularly horror.

In the 21st century, only three horror movies have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars: The Substance, Get Out (2017), and Black Swan (2010).

With The Substance, the fact that it's also a body horror film made by women and starring women — where it also calls out unattainable standards — just adds to the excitement that it was able to receive a Best Picture nomination.

Personally, I think the horror genre has never been as good as it is right now. In recent years, we've seen a boom with movies like Midsommar, Us, Nope, Hereditary, Ready or Not, Smile, Pearl, Longlegs, and more. All of these have been beloved by audiences but have failed to cross that final hurdle to Academy Award nominees in major categories.

So many good performances have been left out of the awards season conversation, like Toni Collette in Hereditary, Florence Pugh in Midsommar, and Lupita Nyong'o in Us. All three gave outstanding performances but failed to be recognized by the Academy just because they took place in genre films.

And overall, a possible win for Demi would simply be incredible for an actor who has starred in so many beloved movies, but has felt like she'd already reached the peak of her career, for a role where she plays a fading celebrity who thinks she's not good enough anymore.

On top of just breaking down barriers for the horror genre, it's also a huge win for female filmmakers and independent films. These mark the first nominations for Mubi, a production company and streaming service that prioritizes arthouse, documentary, and independent films.

Meanwhile, Coralie's nomination for Best Director is also important. Not only is it her first nomination in the category, not only is it still hard for female directors to even get nominated regardless of genre, but she's the first female director to be nominated for a horror film.

Personally, it feels fitting that Coralie and The Substance are the ones to break down this barrier between prestige awards shows and horror even more. She just understands genre movies so beautifully that I am so excited to root for her and the movie.

Alongside The Substance, the horror genre also saw some love in other Oscars categories this year. Nosferatu received four nominations, including Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, while Alien: Romulus earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Basically, The Substance and other horror films finally arriving on film's biggest stage is just a testament to the breadth of film. While genre movies have often been looked down on as not prestigious enough for the Academy Awards, in walked a bonkers body horror film with a beloved Hollywood actor to prove every single person wrong.

What are your thoughts on The Substance? Are you hoping Demi Moore pulls out a win? Join the conversation in the comments below!

The 97th Academy Awards will be hosted by Conan O'Brien and air on March 2 on ABC and Hulu.

You can check out the full list of this year's nominees HERE.