Horror and sci-fi films 'Frankenstein' and 'Sinners' win at the Oscars

Horror and sci-fi had a big night at the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. “Frankenstein” won three Oscars while “Sinners” won four. 

It seems fitting that in these scary times, with wars or the threat of wars, with civil occupations and boots on the ground, a film that creates a creature from dead bodies ravaged by war and a film that exemplifies vampires as culture vultures would receive critical attention, even from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"Frankenstein" received the costume design Oscar for Kate Hawley. It was her first win in her first career nomination. Hawley said this nomination was also for "Frankenstein" director Guillermo del Toro, who was snubbed for the director nomination. 

Del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s sci-fi horror novel also earned an Oscar for makeup and hairstyling for the team of Cliona Furey, Jordan Samuel and Mike Hill, and for production design for Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau. The movie’s third Oscar was for production design. 

"One Battle After Another," Paul Thomas Anderson's dark comedy about aging revolutionaries, won the Oscar for best picture and five other prizes, including directing and adapted screenplay honors for Anderson.

Many expected Timothée Chalamet to win the Best Actor Oscar, but in a welcome surprise for the audience and viewers, "Sinners" star Michael B. Jordan won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Coogler won for best original screenplay. The vampire prohibition-era film also collected honors for original score and cinematography.

But "One Battle" ruled the evening at the Dolby Theatre, earning a total of six honors, including the top prize for best picture.

Anderson took time to praise the other nominated films, noting that in 1975 the best picture nominees were "Dog Day Afternoon," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Jaws," "Nashville" and "Barry Lyndon."

"There is no best among them," he said. "There is just what that mood might be that day. But we're happy to be part of this. A wonderful, wonderful journey with our fellow filmmakers, and filmmakers who weren't even recognized by the Academy. There's so many great films this year."

Earlier in the evening, Anderson won his first career Oscar for adapted screenplay, then collected another for best director. They were his first wins despite nearly a dozen previous nominations.

"You make a guy work hard for one of these, I really appreciate it," he said when he accepted the directing prize.

"There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself," he joked. "I'm here because of people's faith in me,. They give me their faith and their time, and that's the best part of being on a film crew, is being with people. We need each other. This is a wonderful gift, and I'm so happy to call the movies home."

Jordan won his first career Oscar on his first nomination for his dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack in "Sinners."

"God is good. God is good," the 39-year-old said as he accepted the prize. "... I stand here because of the people that came before me -- Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith. To be amongst those giants, among those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys. Thank you everybody in this room and everybody at home who supported me over my career. I feel it."

He also thanked people who went to see "Sinners."

"I love you guys and everybody at home who supported `Sinners' and went to see the movie once, twice, three, four or five times. Thank you because you made this movie what it is. I love you," he said.

Jordan (who won for “Sinners”) became the first individual to win in the Best Actor category for playing twins - in “Sinners”, he plays both Smoke and Stack (*some do consider Lee Marvin’s win for “Cat Ballou” in 1965 to be a twins performance win, but it was never unambiguously confirmed that the two characters were twins).

For the first time in Oscars history, a woman, and a woman of color, won the cinematography prize. Autumn Durald Arkapaw won for "Sinners" on her first career nomination. During her speech, Arkapaw, who is Filipina and Black, asked that all the women in the theater stand up to honor all the women before her.

Jessie Buckley, 36, won her first Oscar on Sunday, claiming the honor for best actress for her work as a grieving mother – the wife of William Shakespeare – in the period drama "Hamnet." Buckley became the first Irish actress to ever win in the Best Actress category

"Thank you so much, this is really something," she said, giving thanks to her parents who had flown in from Ireland for the ceremony.

Buckley also heaped praise on director Chloé Zhao and screenwriter Maggie O'Farrell.

"To get to know this incandescent woman, and journey to understand the capacity of a mother's love is the greatest collision of my life," she said. "It's Mother's Day in the UK today. So I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds. Thank you for recognizing me in this role."

Amy Madigan, 75, won the prize for best supporting actress for her performance as Aunt Gladys in the horror film "Weapons." Madigan, who was only on screen for about 15 minutes in the film, gave thanks to the members of her behind-the-scenes team and the filmmakers.

It was Madigan's first Oscar win. She was previously nominated 40 years ago for her supporting role in "Twice in a Lifetime."

Sean Penn, 65, won the award for best supporting actor for his role in "One Battle After Another." It was his third career Oscar, having previously won best actor prizes in 2009 for "Milk" and 2004 for "Mystic River."

Penn did not attend the Oscar ceremony.

Casting director Cassandra Kulukundis made history by winning the first Oscar in the newly created category for casting, for her work on "One Battle After Another."

Kulukundis dedicated the prize to all casting directors who never previously got the chance to be recognized on the Oscar stage. She also hailed Anderson, with whom she has worked multiple times, noting that she had won an Academy Award before him, "which is crazy." Anderson, of course, collected multiple Oscars later in the ceremony.

"One Battle" also won a prize for film editing for Andy Jurgensen – his first Oscar win on his first nomination.

The smash hit film "K-Pop Demon Hunters" won the award for best animated feature film, making co-director/writer Maggie Kang and producer Michelle Wong the first people of South Korean descent to win in the category. The film also claimed the prize for best original song for "Golden," which became the first K-pop song to win in the category.

"The Girl Who Cried Pearls" took the Oscar for animated short film.

For best international film, the Oscar went to "Sentimental Value," becoming the first film from Norway to win the Academy Award.

More Oscar history was made in the live-action short film category, when a tie vote resulted in prizes being awarded to both "The Singers" and "Two People Exchanging Saliva." Tie votes are extremely rare at the Academy Awards, having occurred only six times previously in the Oscars' 98-year history. The most recent occurrence was in 2013, when the sound-editing prize was shared by "Skyfall" and "Zero Dark Thirty."

For visual effects, the prize went to Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett for "Avatar: Fire and Ash."

Ludwig Goransson won the original score Oscar for "Sinners." It was his third career Oscar, previously winning for "Black Panther" and "Oppenheimer."

The Oscar for documentary feature film went to "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," the story of a Russian teacher who uncovers and documents the use of his school as a military recruitment center during the invasion of Ukraine.

"All the Empty Rooms," the story of a journalist and photographer who embark on a journey to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings, won the Oscar for best documentary short film.

The ceremony included an emotional tribute to the life of actor/writer/director Rob Reiner, who was killed along with his wife Michele Singer in their Brentwood home, allegedly by their 32-year-old son Nick. The killings occurred hours after the trio attended a holiday party at the home of comedian Conan O'Brien -- who hosted the Oscar ceremony for the second straight year.

Billy Crystal, who starred in Reiner's films "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Princess Bride," led the tribute.

"My friends, Rob's movies will last for lifetimes because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be -- far better, in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier and far more human," Crystal said. "And when Michele Singer entered his life, they were unstoppable. A gifted photographer, she not only produced films with Rob, but it was her energy that had them working tirelessly to fight social injustice in the country that they both loved."

Crystal called their loss "immeasurable."

Barbra Streisand, meanwhile, took the stage to honor her "The Way We Were" co-star Robert Redford, who died in September at age 89.

"Bob had real backbone, on and off the screen," Streisand said. "He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute, and some of whom are up for Oscars tonight, which is so great. He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail and won the Academy Award for best director. And I miss him now more than ever."

The Oscar ceremony was held under tighter-than-usual security, given concerns about possibly retaliatory attacks by Iran in light of U.S. and Israeli military attacks on that nation.

O'Brien comically referenced the stepped-up security during his opening monologue, quipping that "there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities" – a reference to recent widely publicized disparaging remarks about opera and ballet made by best-actor nominee Chalamet.