Is it possible that late on Sunday night, when the last celebrities have been ushered out of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with goody bags in hand, actress Demi Moore and French director Coralie Fargeat will be among the lucky few also clutching an Oscar?

Fargeat’s film is called The Substance. She and it are up for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Moore, the film’s lead, is nominated for Best Actress. She’s competing against four others including Anora’s Mikey Madison, to whom she lost out earlier this month at the BAFTAs, and Karla Sofía Gascón, transgender star of Marmite-y drug cartel musical Emilia Pérez.

If The Substance does pick up the Best Picture award it would be notable indeed, because it occupies a genre which doesn’t often make the list of Academy Award nominees, far less win big: horror. The film is about a mysterious beauty product offering users the chance to recapture their youth, though with devastating consequences for those tempted to abuse it. Moore is the ageing TV personality who finds it life-changing in a good way, initially – and then in a very bad way. A hit at Cannes in 2024, The Substance also screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Now it's Scotland's turn to put Haruki Murakami on the stage

Now, you can argue the toss about which was the last true horror film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. You could almost make a case for Parasite or The Shape Of Water, from 2019 and 2017 respectively. Almost. If not, you’re going back to 1991 and The Silence Of The Lambs. Before that? Not much. The Exorcist bagged........

© Herald Scotland