The late Dieter Laser delivered a performance for the ages in “The Human Centipede.”
Yes, the 2009 shocker wasn’t for everyone and leaned hard into its grotesque elements. But Laser’s detached, deliciously evil surgeon made the film an instant classic.
And he had no chance of awards season love for a genre movie of its kind. Too dark. Too grisly. Too off-putting.
The same fate awaits Jai Courtney, star of the 2025 thriller “Dangerous Animals.” The film, which earned $6.8 million worldwide earlier this year, cast him as a shark-obsessed serial killer.
Courtney proved electric as Tucker, a complicated ghoul who holds a kidnapped surfer (Hassie Harrison) on his boat. He’s mesmerizing from start to finish, a full-bodied performance that sticks with you for days.
He’s as scary as Jason, Freddy or Art the Clown, and he’s all too real. But is his work worth a Golden Globe nomination? Unlikely, let alone Oscar buzz.
Genre films get little love on the awards season circuit.
Will the same hold for Amy Madigan’s turn in “Weapons?” The veteran actress has a key role in the late summer smash, although the less said about her character, the better, to sustain the element of surprise.
Madigan’s work is still drawing raves, and deservedly so.
I agree with @CEvangelista413 a million percent that Amy Madigan is worthy of an Oscar nomination for WEAPONS and in the mix to earn one, too. Frankly, I thought she was better than Mia Goth in PEARL or Toni Collette in HEREDITARY. If you disagree, your parents can eat… pic.twitter.com/wXVbdeqg8u
– Jeff Sneider (@theinsneider) August 12, 2025
“Weapons” crosses the line from genre to mainstream horror. It helps that director Zach Cregger quickly established his bona fides with 2022’s “Barbarian” and made a sizable leap with “Weapons.” It’s getting rave reviews and won’t be seen in most circles as merely a “genre” exercise.
That matters.
So does the fact that “Weapons” is getting awards season attention already, and not just for Madigan’s shocking turn.
Once in a while, Oscar voters give movie monsters their due. That typically occurs with films made by “serious” artists. Consider Anthony Hopkins’ Best Actor Oscar for 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs” (directed by Jonathan Demme). It’s actually a supporting performance, but Hopkins’ work is so captivating that it blew past that categorization.
The Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” (2007) earned co-star Javier Bardem a golden statuette for his dark turn as a serial killer.
Heath Ledger’s ominous Joker in “The Dark Knight” (2008) snagged a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar, though director Christopher Nolan’s sober take on superheroes elevated it above its genre roots.
Those stars earned their statuettes. No doubt. Courtney and Madigan may not have delivered the very best work of 2025, but regardless of their film’s roots, both should be in the mix.