Get Out

(Actual winner: The Shape of Water)

While Guillermo del Toro's enthralling fantasy film "The Shape of Water" is an excellent option for Best Picture, one of four Oscars the film won at the 2018 ceremony (it also won for Best Production Design, Best Director, and Best Original Score), it's difficult to deny that awarding Jordan Peele's "Get Out" would have been the most thrilling Academy choice in Oscars history.

There were a few excellent competitors in 2018, including "Shape of Water," "Call Me By Your Name," "Dunkirk," "Lady Bird," and "Phantom Thread," but none reached Peele's zeitgeist-defining heights.

For nearly a year, "Get Out" dominated cultural discourse, and it just so happens to be an astutely crafted suspense with an Oscar-winning script. How often does the Oscars get the opportunity to award Best Picture to a horror film and the year's most talked-about masterpiece? The Academy should have seized this chance with the production of "Get Out."

_

Year of Release: 2017

Director: Jordan Peele

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85/100

IMDB Score: 7.7/10