After watching the scene in “The Substance” the place Elisabeth Sparkle, performed by Demi Moore, repeatedly applies and wipes off lipstick in entrance of a mirror — a chilling metaphor for identification, erasure and self-loathing — I couldn’t have imagined that critics and awards voters would embrace it. But right here we’re, with Moore rising as a frontrunner within the Oscar race for her career-defining efficiency in Coralie Fargeat’s provocative physique horror movie. Her Golden Globes win Sunday not solely cements Moore’s legacy but in addition shines a long-overdue highlight on horror as a style worthy of awards season acclaim.

At 62, Moore is on the verge of incomes her first-ever Oscar nomination for greatest actress. Her haunting and multilayered portrayal of an getting old star who takes a mysterious serum to regain her youth — just for the experiment to spiral right into a surreal nightmare — has been hailed as a masterclass in bodily and emotional transformation. From the eerie precision with which Moore applies and removes lipstick within the now-iconic scene to her means to stability fragility with monstrous confidence, critics and audiences alike agree: that is one of the best work of her decades-long profession.

However Moore’s breakout within the Oscar race isn’t only a private victory; it’s a watershed second for a style lengthy ignored by awards our bodies. Moore leads a brand new wave of respect for horror alongside genre-defining performances comparable to Kathy Bates’ Oscar-winning flip in “Distress” (1990). Her success additionally evokes the frustration of memorable performances left unrecognized by the Academy, together with Toni Collette’s searing work in “Hereditary” (2018) and Lupita Nyong’o’s twin roles in “Us” (2019).

Horror has traditionally lived on the fringes of awards season — celebrated by followers but primarily dismissed by the Academy. The style is commonly considered as too graphic, too area of interest, or too “lowbrow” for the refined tastes of Oscar voters, even when its artistry is simple. Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Child” (1968) and Jamie Lee Curtis in “Halloween” (1978) had been performances that redefined the style, but the Academy snubbed each.

Within the Academy Awards’ 95-year historical past, solely six horror movies have been nominated for greatest image: “The Exorcist” (1973), “Jaws” (1975), “The Sixth Sense” (1999), “Black Swan” (2010), “Get Out” (2017) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) — the one horror movie to win. Appearing honors have been even rarer. Bates’ landmark win for “Distress” triumphed over powerhouse performances like Julia Roberts in “Fairly Lady” and Meryl Streep in “Postcards from the Edge.” Nevertheless, since then, the Academy has primarily ignored horror, regardless of notable nods for Sigourney Weaver in “Aliens” (1986), Ellen Burstyn and others.

The 2025 race is stacked, with Moore up towards an abundance of riches, which embody different genre-bending turns such because the musical performances of Cynthia Erivo (“Depraved”) and Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Pérez”), younger ingenues Mikey Madison (“Anora”) and Zendaya (“Challengers”) and worldwide veterans Fernanda Torres (“I’m Nonetheless Right here”) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Onerous Truths”).

But Moore’s efficiency stands out. Very similar to Bates in “Distress,” Moore anchors a movie that transcends its style by delivering a profoundly human story. Elisabeth Sparkle’s determined seek for validation and the corrosive influence of societal expectations on ladies’s our bodies make “The Substance” each a searing social commentary and a bone-chilling horror movie.

If Moore takes residence the Oscar, she is going to be a part of an elite group of extra seasoned greatest actress winners. At 62, she would turn into the sixth-oldest winner within the class’s historical past, alongside Meryl Streep (“The Iron Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”), Marie Dressler (“Min and Invoice”), Katharine Hepburn (“On Golden Pond”) and Jessica Tandy (“Driving Miss Daisy”). At a time when ageism in Hollywood stays pervasive, Moore’s win would ship a robust message in regards to the relevance and resilience of actresses over 60.

However is the movie a viable greatest image participant?

Informed in three evocative chapters, “The Substance” is a visible spectacle and a psychological deep-dive. Underneath Fargeat’s razor-sharp course, the movie explores the grotesque extremes of the sweetness trade and society’s obsession with youth. Elisabeth Sparkle’s transformation from a washed-up aerobics present star right into a sinister, idealized model of her youthful self is equally terrifying and tragic.

Fargeat, identified for her 2017 cult hit “Revenge,” blends the physique horror sensibilities of David Cronenberg with the satirical chew of Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” which additionally received greatest actress for Natalie Portman. It additionally helps that “The Substance” is a significant contender within the authentic screenplay class, an area that has embraced offbeat decisions like “All the pieces In all places All at As soon as” (2022), “Get Out” (2017) and “Her” (2013).

Might Moore’s recognition pave the way in which for future horror performances to interrupt by way of? And even others within the dialog this 12 months? The reply is whether or not Academy voters can overcome their longstanding biases towards style movies.

There’s additionally buzz for Moore’s co-star Margaret Qualley, who’s harnessing a CCA and Globe nod to date and hoping to hold on to a supporting actress race that’s as fiercely aggressive as its main counterpart. As well as, Hugh Grant’s CCA and Golden Globe-nominated work in “Heretic” remains to be firmly within the dialogue. On the identical time, Sebastian Stan’s Golden Globe victory for the darkly comedic psychological thriller “A Totally different Man” might nonetheless discover sufficient voters prepared to offer the actor his first bid at an Oscar. And let’s not neglect the likes of Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” the vampiric remake that’s as technically good as it’s entertaining.

In a 12 months stuffed with standout performances, “The Substance” provides one thing wholly distinctive: a fearless exploration of vainness, getting old and identification, anchored by one of the vital daring performances of the 12 months —maybe the last decade when you ballot the movie’s most ardent followers. If Moore takes residence the Oscar, it received’t simply be her second. Will probably be a defining second for horror — a style that can lastly safe its place on the desk.