Top 13 Horrific Oscar Nods/Losses

[customfont1]Psycho (1960)[/customfont1]

Supporting Actress Janet Leigh lost to Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry

Directing Alfred Hitchcock lost to Billy Wilder for The Apartment

Cinematography B&W John L Russell lost to Fredddie Francis for Sons and Lovers

Art Direction B&W Lost to The Apartment

Psycho losing at the Oscars has to be understood through the lens of that era. It opened to mixed reviews, and criticized for its gore. It’s really only in hindsight that these losses feel outrageous. It should be noted that the film and its two leads all picked up awards in separate award shows.

 

[customfont1]Them! (1954)[/customfont1]

Best Special Effects (lost to Disney’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea)

Them! featured some spectacular and gigantic ants, but this atomic horror show wasn’t quite impressive enough to push Disney’s nautical adventure to the side.

 

[customfont1]The Birds (1963)[/customfont1]

Best Special Effects lost to Cleopatra

When considered in light of its era, The Birds has some impressive visuals. Unluckily, it had to compete with Cleopatra, a film with 9 Academy Award nominations to its name. Cleopatra took home four awards, while The Birds won nothing.

 

[customfont1]Amityville Horror (1979)[/customfont1]

Best Score lost to A Little Romance

Amityville Horror has a fairly jarring soundtrack, and helps to establish the tone of the film. I wouldn’t exactly call it easy listening, but it fit the movie perfectly, and earned every bit of this Oscar nod. Fun facts: composer Lalo Schifrin wrote a rejected score for The Exorcist, and is responsible for the Mission: Impossible theme song.

 

[customfont1]Ghostbusters (1984)[/customfont1]

Best Original Song lost to The Woman in Red for “I Just Called to Say I Love You”

1. Looks like I need to make a change.org petition for the Academy to reverse the stupidest decision it has ever made.
2. I refuse to believe this happened.
3. Dammit.
4. I don’t understand how this happened but it did, and we should all be ashamed.
5. I’m not sure what criteria the Academy uses in determining this, but they were wrong here. “Ghostbusters” has outlived “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by decades, making this one of the most controversial losses on the list.

 

[customfont1]The Bad Seed (1956)[/customfont1]

Best Actress Nancy Kelly lost to Ingrid Bergman for Anastasia

Best Supporting Actress Eileen Heckart & Patty McCormack lost to Dorothy Malone for Written on the Wind

Best Cinematography lost to Somebody Up There Likes Me

I’m not terribly surprised to see Ingrid Bergman won best actress the year Bad Seed was up for nominations. However, Patty McCormack’s performance is perfectly chilling, making for a fairly surprising loss in the supporting actress category.

 

[customfont1]Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)[/customfont1]

Best Supporting Actor Victor Buono lost to Ed Begley for Sweet Bird of Youth

Best Actress Bette Davis lost to Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker

Best Cinematography B&W lost to The Longest Day
Best Sound lost to John Cox for Lawrence of Arabia

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane garnered some significant attention, but wasn’t able to pull in an award in four of its five nominated categories. The film did take home an Oscar for best costume design.

 

[customfont1]Altered States (1980)[/customfont1]

Best Score lost to Fame

Best Sound lost to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Altered States. That being said, I have to go with the Academy on this one. Both Fame and Empire have become pop culture touchstones, worthy of their accolades.

 

[customfont1]Predator (1987)[/customfont1]

Best Visual Effects lost to Innerspace

1987 was a pretty good year for sci-fi, but in the end it was only Innerspace and Predator squaring off for best visual effects. Unfortunately, the invisible hunter couldn’t get it together for this kill.

 

[customfont1]The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)[/customfont1]

Best Visual Effects lost to Jurassic Park

The Nightmare Before Christmas is genuinely a visual spectacle–beautiful animation, fantastic set pieces, and a consistent and creepy tone. Unfortunately, it was up against Jurassic Park, a film still regarded as one of the most spectacular displays of visual effects ever put on the big screen.

 

[customfont1]Interview With the Vampire (1994)[/customfont1]

Best Art Direction lost to The Madness of King George

Best Score lost to The Lion King

Interview With the Vampire is remarkably cohesive storytelling, making its loss in the art direction category a real surprise. However, I can’t even feign an argument that it had a better soundtrack than The Lion King.

 

[customfont1]Se7en (1995)[/customfont1]

Best Editing lost to Apollo 13

Both of these films received the excellent editing and pacing required to effectively tell their stories. Honestly, I could see this award going either way. But in the end, astronauts almost dying won out over a sadistic serial killer with a theme.

 

[customfont1]The Sixth Sense (1999)[/customfont1]

Best Supporting Actor Haley Joel Osment lost to Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules)

Best Supporting Actress Toni Collette lost to Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted)

Best Director M. Night Shyamalan lost to Sam Mendes (American Beauty)

Best Original Screenplay lost to American Beauty

Best Picture lost to American Beauty

Best Editing lost to The Matrix
Like so many items on this list, The Sixth Sense appears to be a victim of timing. While it’s a great film in its own right, it was going toe-to-toe with some serious heavy hitters. It won none of its six nominations. Amazingly, this is not the record for most nominations without a win. That goes to The Turning Point (1977), and The Color Purple (1985), both of which racked up 11 nominations and zero wins.