The Oscars, and in fact most movie award shows, ignore genre films and tend to focus on whatever moistens the britches of the critics. Critics just love to appear to be smugly above everyone else and even the movies they so claim to admire. This accounts for the endless accolades given out for tedious, so-called important message movies, movies with subtitles where nothing happens, movies filmed in beige rooms with people crying and anything featuring Cate Blanchett.
While many are, rightfully so, disgusted by the lack of diversity in the movies/awards or up in arms about the lack of an award honouring brave stunt people, us genre fans have had to sit back and watch the major award shows, basically, ignore us. Sure there are the award shows where they hand people rubber chainsaws or a chintzy plastic bucket of popcorn but in terms of the top awards, we never get a look in.
Normally this wouldn't be an issue but the In Memoriam section of last night's Oscars was a disgrace of forgotten genre legends. Yes these montages normally forget one or two people but this year it was way worse. They honoured a publicist nobody has ever heard of but not the following actors. Well, we here at the Diner wish to remedy this and so here are the performers we, personally, felt they forgot:
Abe Vigoda is best known for his roles in the Barney Miller TV show and The Godfather 1 & 2 but he also made appearances in Look Who's Talking, Joe Vs the Volcano, Fist of Honor and Sugar Hill.
Angus Scrimm will live forever in the hearts of horror fans as The Tall Man from the Phantasm series but also did great work in other weird and wonderful genre movies like Scream Bloody Murder, The Lost Empire, Chopping Mall, Subspecies, Mindwarp and John Dies In The End.
Most of us will know the wonderful Betsy Palmer as Pamela Vorhees, Jason's mother and the serial killer from the first Friday the 13th movie. She has been acting, however, since the 1950s, mainly on television. Post Friday she has appeared in the horror film The Fear: Resurrection as well as many other low budget films.
The absence of Juliette Lewis's father, character actor, Geoffrey Lewis from the Oscars 'In Memoriam' section may be the most glaring omission considering his 220 acting credits and work with Academy darling Clint Eastwood.
He mainly came to my attention for his work in 80s and 90s action films such as 10 to Midnight, Tango & Cash, Double Impact and Army of One. His roles are way too numerous to list here but he's always a welcome face in any film and always worth watching out for.
For me George Gaynes will always be Commandant Lassard from the Police Academy series. He always had some wonderfully silly bits in the movies and is my favourite to watch from the cast. He also had roles in comedy classics Tootsie and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
Gunnar Hansen is iconic and will always remain so for his famous portrayal of Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He has also appeared in Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Freakshow, Hatred of a Minute (produced by other genre legend Bruce Campbell), underground cult favourite Chainsaw Sally and even a film by some of my Baltimore indie favs Swarm of the Snakehead.
Robert Z'Dar had one of the most glorious B Movie careers ever. Forever associated with the Maniac Cop series and Samurai Cop, he racked up over 100 acting credits in such awesomely mental movies as Cherry 2000, Soultaker, The Final Sanction, Beastmaster 2, Enter The Blood Ring and many many more.
He came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and he's all out of bubblegum. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, already an absolute legend in the world of wrestling, made his mark on movies with another genre icon, John Carpenter, in the film They Live. He is also well known for genre and action films Hell Comes To Frogtown, Back in Action and Tough and Deadly with Billy Blanks, Immortal Combat with Sonny Chiba and Terminal Rush with Don "The Dragon" Wilson.
While many are, rightfully so, disgusted by the lack of diversity in the movies/awards or up in arms about the lack of an award honouring brave stunt people, us genre fans have had to sit back and watch the major award shows, basically, ignore us. Sure there are the award shows where they hand people rubber chainsaws or a chintzy plastic bucket of popcorn but in terms of the top awards, we never get a look in.
Normally this wouldn't be an issue but the In Memoriam section of last night's Oscars was a disgrace of forgotten genre legends. Yes these montages normally forget one or two people but this year it was way worse. They honoured a publicist nobody has ever heard of but not the following actors. Well, we here at the Diner wish to remedy this and so here are the performers we, personally, felt they forgot:
He mainly came to my attention for his work in 80s and 90s action films such as 10 to Midnight, Tango & Cash, Double Impact and Army of One. His roles are way too numerous to list here but he's always a welcome face in any film and always worth watching out for.
