What was the first horror movie to win Best Picture?

Audiences have been flocking to theatres for frights since the start of cinema. Honestly, even before that. But critics? Oh no, horror was beneath them. It wasn't until one film came around with scares, success, and sophistication, that Hollywood finally took note. Which horror film won over audiences and industry to become the first horror film to win Best Picture at the Oscars?

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The answer is: Silence of the Lambs

Hollywood loves its monsters - just not at the Oscars. At least that was true until 1992, when a brilliant cannibal and a rookie FBI agent picked the Academy's lock and walked away with every major award. "The Silence of the Lambs" wasn't just a win for horror; it was a five-course feast of vindication served with a side of fava beans.

Anthony Hopkins haunted screens for just 16 minutes as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, but that's all it took. His portrayal of the sophisticated savage earned him Best Actor and gave dinner parties a whole new level of social anxiety. Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling went toe-to-toe with both Lecter and Buffalo Bill, earning her Best Actress and proving that sometimes the scariest conversations happen through bulletproof glass.

For Lecter's character, Harris drew from an unlikely encounter during his crime reporting days - a Mexican doctor he interviewed in prison whose sharp mind and elegant manner of speaking would later inspire cinema's favorite cannibal. As for Buffalo Bill, Harris crafted his killer by weaving together the darkest threads of true crime: Ed Gein's fashion choices, Ted Bundy's charm, and Gary Heidnik's dungeon. Turns out you don't need to write horror when you can just read the newspaper.

Silence devoured the "Big Five" Academy Awards - Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay - a feat only two other films had managed. The success spawned several sequels, but like reheated liver, they never quite captured the original's flavor.

Decades later, film buffs still debate whether "Silence" belongs in the horror section or the psychological thriller aisle. But when your movie features a psychiatrist who pairs census taker liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti, you've probably crossed the line from thriller into terror - even if the Academy was too hypnotized to notice.