Below Article Excerpt from ... HALLOWEEN CANDY ... more info click here. Horror Goes Hollywood: A Call for Saturn Reform by Thomas M. Sipos     The 23rd Annual Saturn Awards show was held July 22, 1997, at the Century Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City.  But this article is not about the award show itself, although I attach a list of nominees and winners.  But rather, this discourse explains what the Saturn is, why it's worthwhile, the extent to which it's failed on its promise, and how this failure has hurt horror.     The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences never extends Oscar consideration to every outstanding film in a given year, though it may claim otherwise, but mainly to films deemed serious and respectable.  Despite a rare win (and typically in lesser nominee categories), odds disfavor comedy, action, science fiction, and horror.  Were it otherwise, 1985's Oscar wins would have been dominated by The Company of Wolves, The Doctor and the Devils, and Re-Animator. The Brood would have swept 1979.  But if they won't let you join their club, you can either cry into your milk or start your own.     Horror's club is the Academy Of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, established in 1972 by its longtime President, Dr. Donald A. Reed.  This Academy presents the Saturn Awards.  A Saturn is like an Oscar, only nicer.  A golden statuette of Saturn, rings and all.  An Oscar is a nude eunuch.  Which would you rather see on your mantle?     It's difficult to judge films of disparate genres against one another, because different genres pursue different aesthetic goals.  The Oscar solution is exclusion.  Horror's embarrassment of riches in 1985 were never seriously considered against Out of Africa.  The Saturn folk are more inclusive, with first two, then three, and now four Best Film Saturns.  One each for Best Science Fiction, Best Fantasy, Best Horror (which in 1985 went to Fright Night), and Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film.     I have a problem with that.  That's one Saturn too inclusive.  What is the rationale for an Academy devoted to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror to honor Action/Etc.?  The first three are all genres of the fantastique, not a patchwork hodgepodge.  They share a long history of common ground, their overlapping tales busying academics intent upon demarcating genre seams.  These three are kindred.  Action/Etc. is an interloper.  What next, a Best Nighttime Soap Saturn?     The Action/Adventure/Thriller Saturn was created in 1994 and first awarded to Pulp Fiction.  Now, I agree that personality goes a long way, but if an Academy identifies itself as one devoted to SF/F/H, its awards should reflect it.  It's bad enough that action/comedies are masquerading as science fiction (Independence Day, Mars Attacks, Men In Black).  But however worthy these films are in their own right (as something other than science fiction), genre purity should be one of the standards the Academy applies when adjudicating genre excellence.  Best Science Fiction should mean Best Science Fiction.     A bit of background on the Academy.... [This article is available in its entirety in Halloween Candy.]   Article copyright 1997, 2001 by Thomas M. Sipos