B-movie king and splatter-flick auteur Roger Corman is getting a lifetime achievement Academy Award, the Associate Press is reporting Wednesday.

The director and producer is behind hundreds of horror films, including Children of the Corn, Death Race 2000 and Piranha, that are so graphically over-the-top (and under most Hollywood budgets) that they've become cult favorites.

The filmmaker said he was surprised that he'll get one of the industry's top honors, one that has been bestowed upon Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and James Cameron. He told AP he knew he was in the running for the award but that he fully predicted he would not win.

Corman, recently praised for his recent web-only filmmaking, was recently announced as a Governor's Award presenter at the Oscars.

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