"Genre film has a pulpy bent to it, a B-movie sensibility, and a well-worn home in the midnight slot. Genre films are not defined by a low standard of quality, but they do participate in a kind of inherent lowness. The same lowness that keeps the word "horror" out of the mouths of directors like Ari Aster and Darren Aronofsky. I don't say any of this to fan the embers of the "elevated horror" debate but merely to underline that genre film, as a genre, has a forbidden flavor to it; a sense of transgression that to some extent excludes it from being taken seriously in the big leagues.
Case in point: none of the marvelous performances on this list nabbed an Oscar. Or, in the case of our 2019 entrants, are likely to. This is a crime because these performances deserve to be celebrated, and the actors below have more chops than a butcher's shop."
