Get Out began its journey to the Oscars with an early victory at the British Independent Film Awards in London Sunday night.
The horror hit, directed by Jordan Peele, and starring Girls' Allison Williams and Daniel Kaluuya, won best international independent film at the awards ceremony.
William and Kaluuya were on hand to collect the award for their micro-budgeted success story. Get Out, based on an original screenplay by Peele, cost just $4.5 million to make but grossed over $250 million worldwide.
The movie is a hot contender for the 90th Academy Awards in February, as well as the Golden Globes, the nominations for which are announced Tuesday.
Horror movies have not always fared so favorably at the Oscars, but Peele's ingenuity was lauded by film critics and audiences alike when Get Out hit theaters in February.
Past Oscar winners in the genre include Misery, which earned Kathy Bates a best actress statue, The Silence of the Lambs, which won five awards including best picture, best actor for Anthony Hopkins and best actress for Jodie Foster, Carrie and The Exorcist.
The 2017 BIFAs recognized God's Own Country, a drama about a young farmer whose life is changed by the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker, as the best independent film of the year. Lead actor Josh O'Connor won best actor for his role as farmer Johnny Saxby.
Rising star Florence Pugh won best actress at the ceremony for her role in Lady Macbeth. Pugh, 21, will next be seen opposite Liam Neeson in The Commuter and wrestling dramedy Fighting With My Family, produced by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Veep creator Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin took home four awards including best supporting actor for Simon Russell.
Two special awards were given to British film veterans Vanessa Redgrave and Gary Oldman.
Redgrave, 80, received the Richard Harris Award for her services to film. The actor co-starred with Harris in 1967's Camelot. She received the award from daughter Joely Richardson and Harris's son, the actor Jared Harris.
Oldman won the Variety Award, recognizing his varied film career which most recently has included roles in Christopher Nolan's Batman films and as Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour.
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