George Romero’s passing at the age of 77 brings Hollywood’s strange lack of respect for the genre of horror looming out of the darkness. If ever there was a filmmaker deserving of recognition, it is surely zombie-meister Romero. His work with the undead has inspired countless movies, television series and other filmmakers, from Simon Pegg to Quentin Tarantino, who declared a few years ago that the A, Romero’s middle initial, stood for “A fucking genius”.

It is a sadness that Romero has gone to his grave (temporarily, let us hope) without recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for making all our lives that little bit creepier.

In recent years, the Academy has been accused of being out of sync with the times over diversity and representation. It also seems out of sync about what cinemagoers fundamentally love about the movies. Audiences know that a good horror film is the very essence of what makes cinema so exciting. Little matches the edge-of-your-seat thrill of watching Laurie Strode struggling to wake up her young charges, or of finding out what’s inside The Fog or how Carrie will get revenge on her bullies.

Horror is the ultimate geek food, the teenage pleasure that we return to time and again to escape the anxieties of adulthood. It’s time institutions such as the Academy, Bafta and Hollywood Foreign Press Association (which runs the Golden Globes) relaxed and started honouring a part of their industry of which they should be proud – not embarrassed.

Horror is not to everyone’s taste, and some of the output is bleak, it’s true. But the genre is far more than just gore. It often provides significant social commentary. Romero’s bloodbaths were famously an attack on consumerism: John Carpenter’s They Live (1988) has been described as the most anti-Reagan film to come out of Hollywood, and It Follows (2015) was commentary on sexual anxiety.

But the makers of these films are treated like wayward family members who don’t get invited to dinner. Some of the greatest films of all time have been overlooked by the Oscars: Psycho (1960), The Shining (1980), Carrie (1976), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Halloween (1978), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Alien (1979), An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Fog (1980), The Omen (1976), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Some won Oscars for editing or make-up. But not one of these had a nomination for best picture.

A handful of exceptions have broken the rule. The Exorcist (1973), fresh from director William Friedkin’s win for The French Connection (1971), was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, but won only for screenplay and sound mixing. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the big exception – winning the big five for actor, actress, director, adapted screenplay and best picture – in all likelihood allowed the recognition it deserved because of its two respected leads, Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins (and to this day many refer to it as a thriller, rather than horror, which it obviously is).

Those auteurs responsible for the genre’s greatest hits are equally overlooked. Wes Craven died in 2015 without recognition of his outstanding work, which included The Hills Have Eyes (1977), the spectacularly fun Scream films (1996-2011) and one of the best-loved cinematic anti-heroes of all time: Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. John Carpenter seems to enjoy his outsider status but it is a crime that he’s not been awarded for The Thing (1982), The Fog, They Live (1988) and, of course, for me, the scariest horror movie of all time, Halloween. That the ultimate horror writer, Stephen King, is Oscar-less after writing Carrie, Cujo, The Shining, Pet Sematary and countless other different genre work, is too ridiculous for words.

Horror also provides valuable schooling for rookie filmmakers cutting their teeth. Jamie Lee Curtis’s first film was Halloween. Johnny Depp’s was A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, JJ Abrams, Joel Cohen and even Francis Ford Coppola all gained vital early experience in scary movies. After a while one can’t help but think Hollywood must have some dark, psychological issues of its own, as if it is ashamed of its shadow side. Classic Jung. Hannibal Lecter would have a field day.

There seems to be a glimmer of light on the horizon, though. It is speculated that the breakout horror film of 2017, Get Out, will get a nomination for best picture at next years Academy awards. That’s great. But surely it’s time horror got its own “achievement in horror” or just “best horror” category. There are scores of recent films that deserve it – The Witch (2015), Don’t Breathe (2016) and The Babadook (2014) just to name a few.

It would certainly be a way of engaging young people by celebrating the films they actually watch. On top of this, perhaps presented separately, there should be an annual award for lifetime achievement. Perhaps, fittingly, after he’s given the first one, it could be named after the zombie master who has just joined the undead. If not, it begs the question: just what is it exactly that the Academy is frightened of?

• Matthew Todd is the author of Straight Jacket