The Academy Award for Best Makeup (which added Hairstyling in 1993) has only been around, in earnest, since 1981.
That year, macabre special effects genius Rick Baker won for transforming David Naughton into a grotesquely hirsute lycanthrope for “American Werewolf in London.” In that same decade, Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis won for turning Jeff Goldblum into the sticky, disgusting Brundlefly for David Cronenberg’s “The Fly.” Save for a handful of gruesome gothics like “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” — both prioritizing practical effects over digital — winners in this category can be awards bait (“Bombshell”), fantasy franchise entries, or the rare original auteur vision (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”).
And there have been major short shrifts, such as John Carpenter’s “The Thing” not landing a nomination in 1982 for its human-alien chimeras courtesy of Rob Bottin.In short, the Academy tends to shy away from hardcore genre movies that test audience’s limits,
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