The 2026 awards season is officially in high gear, and for those of us who live for the dark and macabre, it is a thrilling time to see the genre get its flowers. Today, the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) announced its nominees for the 62nd Annual CAS Awards, and the horror community has plenty to celebrate. Standing tall among high-octane blockbusters and sprawling dramas are two of the year’s most atmospheric genre entries: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and the latest prestige Frankenstein adaptation.
The Sound of Terror: Sinners and Frankenstein
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan, has been a heavy hitter since its first teaser dropped. Known for its intense, period-accurate Southern Gothic atmosphere, the film relies heavily on its auditory landscape to build a sense of impending doom. The CAS nomination for Live-Action Theatrical Feature acknowledges the incredible work of the sound mixing team in balancing the visceral, bone-crunching action with the quiet, unsettling whispers of the supernatural. For a vampire epic of this scale, the sound is just as important as the cinematography, and it’s heartening to see the industry recognize that technical complexity.
Alongside Sinners, we see the inclusion of the latest Frankenstein reimagining. Whether it’s the gothic rumbles of a laboratory or the wet, squelching sounds of reanimation, the sound design in Shelley-inspired cinema is notoriously difficult to master. This specific adaptation has been praised for its immersive soundscape, utilizing silence just as effectively as its more chaotic sequences. Being nominated alongside massive tentpoles like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and F1 proves that the technical craftsmanship behind these horror-adjacent stories is on par with the biggest productions in Hollywood.
Why CAS Recognition Matters for Horror
Historically, horror has often been relegated to the "technical" categories at major awards shows, but even there, the competition is fierce. The CAS Awards are specifically voted on by sound mixers, for sound mixers. This means the nomination isn't just about which film had the loudest bangs; it’s about the "art of the mix"—how dialogue, effects, and music are blended to create a cohesive and terrifying experience.
In horror, the mix is the primary tool for manipulating the audience's heart rate. It’s the low-frequency hum that triggers a fight-or-flight response, the sudden silence that precedes a scare, and the spatial audio that makes a viewer feel like something is breathing just behind their left shoulder. By securing spots in the Live-Action Theatrical Feature category, Sinners and Frankenstein are being lauded for their ability to use sound as a narrative weapon. This isn't just about technical proficiency; it's about storytelling through audio.
A Stacked Field of Competition
While we are rooting for our genre favorites, the competition this year is undeniably stiff. The horror nominees are going head-to-head with the high-speed roar of F1 and the relentless action of Mission: Impossible. In the animated category, we also saw genre-adjacent nods like KPop Demon Hunters, which blends vibrant animation with high-energy sound design. This diversity in nominations reflects a year where sound was used creatively across all mediums to pull audiences back into theaters.
As we look toward the Academy Awards, the CAS nominations are often seen as a bellwether for the Best Sound category. If Sinners can pull off a win here, it could very well be a frontrunner for Oscar gold. At ScreamDesk, we’ll be watching closely to see if horror can sweep the technical categories this year. For a genre that relies so heavily on the "bump in the night," these nominations are a well-deserved validation of the artists who make us afraid of what we hear.