Joey Magidson
The Sunday Scaries are upon us once again! Yes, as the weekend concludes, most of us feel an oncoming sense of anticipatory dread about the week ahead. Anxiety about work manifests itself into a feeling that’s known as the Sunday Scaries. However, we at Awards Radar are here to combat that, by taking back the name. Now, we want you think about a horror-centric piece on the site when you hear the term. So, let us continue on with another installment of the Awards Radar Sunday Scaries! This time around, we’re focusing in on how two particular distributors seem to be acing it when it comes to the world of horror as well as the awards world…
If you’re a film lover, you probably consider A24 and NEON to be among, if not the, pinnacle of independent cinema today. Cinephiles each year fall in love with the indie shingles’ outputs, and rightly so. The thing that I want to celebrate a bit today? They’ve both managed to not just be aces at prestige fare, but genre fare as well. Cinema meant to win awards at the highest levels come out from A24 and NEON each year, while they’re both at the top of the horror game as well.
We’ve seen it really come to the forefront of late, too. A24 has a lock on a very specific type of horror, as well as a steady stream of arthouse fare that becomes trendy, too. A24 is cool, plain and simple. NEON now is, too, while also being the newer kid on the block. They’re the reigning Best Picture champion, while dominating in the horror realm, too. It’s good to be both of these distributors right now, without question.
When I did a Sunday Scaries piece just on NEON and horror (here), I had the following to say, in part:
NEON has only been around since 2017, but in that short span of time, they’ve managed to accomplish a lot. They’ve become one of the cool independent distributors, won Best Picture with Parasite, and really established a brand. They’ve also done something that I’m not sure people are as aware of. To me, they’ve become an indie horror powerhouse. The release and success of Longlegs this month just hammers that home.
In prior years, NEON has released work like Climax, Crimes of the Future (reviewed here), Infinity Pool (reviewed here), It Lives Inside, Little Monsters, The Lodge, Possessor, She Dies Tomorrow, Titane (reviewed here), and more. Next year, the distributor has The Monkey from Oz Perkins coming out. One has to be incredibly excited for that one, coming off of Perkins’ Longlegs. Plus, at this point, the combination of NEON and Perkins seems like a match made in cinematic heaven. You also have to assume that the distributor will pick more up in the genre throughout this year and next year. It’s a good time for horror when NEON is in town.
Now, we know it turned out that I loved The Monkey, hot on the heels of loving Longlegs. That’s the Osgood Perkins effect, sure, but it also speaks to their ability to cultivate talent, as well as genre. NEON markets these flicks expertly, in addition to being able to see what audiences will gravitate towards. When it comes to horror, it’s easy to see distributors and studios not care much about quality, only the dollar signs. That’s not the case here, even if these do prove to be financially beneficial, which in turn helps to fuel their Oscar hopes.
Obviously, NEON also has a pair of Best Picture Oscars on their mantle, for Anora and Parasite. So, they clearly know how to play both games. Once gain, you can see their campaigns in effect. The same playbook was utilized here, going from the Cannes Film Festival and the Palme d’Or to other festivals, right up until a solid showing at the Academy Award nominations. Then, the precursor season, especially the Guilds, built up their bona fides, leading to Oscar glory. I, Tonya was a good start for NEON, but Anora and Parasite has proven that they’re in the midst of an incredible run. Hell, the best could be yet to come.
When it comes to A24, they have a very specific type of horror they traffic in, so much so that pop culture has come to know it. There’s various permutations, to be sure, but A24 horror stands together uniquely. No other distributor is putting out things like Green Room, Hereditary, Heretic, I Saw the TV Glow, The Lighthouse, MaXXXine, Men, Midsommar, Pearl, Talk to Me, Under the Skin, The Witch, X, and so on. Now, even when something like Beau is Afraid hits that I don’t respond to, I still respect the ambition and the swing. They’re also a filmmaker forward house, developing talent that continues to impress.
Awards wise, A24 also has won Best Picture twice at the Academy Awards, for Everything Everywhere All at Once and Moonlight. They’ve also been nominated in that category for The Brutalist, Lady Bird, Minari, Past Lives, Room, and The Zone of Interest. These are, largely, instant classics that will stand the test of time. There’s a lot they put out, and it all feels in their wheelhouse, but they’ve boosted themselves over the years by putting out things people responded to.
On the flip side, even when a studio like Miramax was at their heights, they didn’t respect the balance like these places do. Miramax had Dimension for horror, ghettoizing it away from prestige cinema. A24 and NEON do not do that. One side helps the other, which is not just good for the distributors, but is good for the film world on the whole. We’re seeing that at the Oscars, even, as voters are more open to horror than ever before.
All in all, you can look to A24 and NEON as leaders in the world of moviemaking, not just for awards fare but genre fare as well. An Academy Award hopeful and a fright flick are given equal standing. If you love cinema in all its forms, what can be better?
Stay tuned for another Sunday Scaries installment next week!
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