Oddity

Film: Oddity

Year: 2024

Director: Damian Mc Carthy

Writer: Damian Mc Carthy

Starring: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken and Tadhg Murphy

Review:

This was a movie that caught my interest when the trailer played ahead of things I was seeing at the Gateway Film Center. What intrigued me was that the writer/director, Damian McCarthy, was behind the film Caveat that came out years ago. It was one that I liked and had a great atmosphere. The bit of the trailer I saw looked like this was going to be in a similar vein. I was able to see this in the theater and then again for a second watch now that it is on Shudder.

Synopsis: a medium tries to uncover the truth behind her sister’s murder at the site of the crime.

We start this at a remote house that looks to be quite old. Our owners are Dani (Carolyn Bracken) and Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee). She is staying there that night, doing work to renovate while her husband is working. He has the night shift at a mental hospital. He is supposed to meet her the following morning. The night takes a turn when Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy) shows up. He was watching in the dark when Dani came out to her car. He asks to be let in, claiming that he saw someone sneak into the house when her back was turned. We see that she doesn’t believe him, but his case is compelling.

This shifts to about a year into the present. Dani was murdered that night. Olin was recently released from the hospital where Ted works. Olin was once again confined to the hospital, believing that he murdered Dani during that opening sequence. It should be pointed out that he was committed to one due to having murdered his mother, in self-defense. Ted has moved on, now seeing Yana (Caroline Menton). She has been staying at the same house, but she is creeped out. She might also be seeing the ghost of Dani there.

Dani had a twin sister named Darcy (also played by Bracken). Ted visits her, bringing the fake eye of Olin who was murdered in the hospital by another patient. She runs an antique story and is also a medium for a living, being able to see events of the past when touching items that were close to people. She does this with the eye of Olin. What Ted wasn’t expecting is that she doesn’t believe he murdered her sister. She wants to visit to see who did.

This doesn’t sit well with Yana, especially since she was going back to the city that night. She can’t find her car keys and Ted must work. It doesn’t help that Darcy also sent a creepy, wooden figure that was made for her mother. She sent it as a gift to Ted and Dani for their anniversary. Strange things happened that night at the house, so bad that they scared off Yana. Darcy will get to the bottom of what happened and punish those involved.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this movie has two of the best jump-scares that I’ve seen in recent memory. These usually don’t work, but they got me here. Other than that, like with McCarthy’s first film, he can build such a creepy atmosphere and it works in this film’s favor. We get a variation on a haunted house film, mixed in with a bit of home invasion and a mystery. Not all these elements work, but as a final product, I was a fan.

Now that I’ve set that up, let me start to delve deeper. I want to start with the opening scene. We get to see part of it. It sets up Dani and Ted. We learn more about the latter as we go. I thought it was creative to give us up to where she might let Olin in. We don’t know though. This is effective, because we believe the consensus that he was and in turn, murdered her. We come back to parts of it in flashbacks as Darcy sees different things through touching items. I like how that was used. We are slowly given the supernatural elements and that is effective, since it builds tension. She brings this creepy wooden statue that has its mouth open. I’ve heard jokes reminding people of another film, The Fear. To be honest, I thought of it as well while watching this. What we get here is managed differently and the lore of this figure being carved by a witch is interesting. Especially why it was sent here. Things are introduced at a good pace.

Where I want to shift is to the character of Ted. He is set up from the start when he visits Darcy that he doesn’t believe in ghosts, the afterlife or the supernatural. I can agree with him there, because I’m the same way. He’s a man of science. He humors Darcy by bringing the eye from Olin. He does want to keep a relationship with his deceased wife’s sister. Yana doesn’t like this. Darcy doesn’t like that her ex-brother-in-law has moved on as quickly as he has. She goes as far to believe that their relationship started before her sister passed away. The more we learn about Ted, the less we like him as we see how cold he is. He doesn’t have a lot of emotion. Lee does well in managing this role.

The last part of the story that I want to discuss would be the supernatural aspects. Darcy is blind. That is something that should be included here. She has a museum of cursed items, which feels like it is borrowing from Ed and Lorraine Warren. In the back room is the rabbit from Caveat, which made me smile to see. I love that this gets set up before she arrives at this place that belonged to Ted and her sister. She also brings a bell that you’d see in a store. Ted was there when it arrived for Darcy and he asked about it. This comes into play later since it is a haunted item. Creepy things happen to build this atmosphere where we don’t know if supernatural things are happening or is there a logical explanation? We’re given a definite answer by the end and it worked.

I’ll then shift over to filmmaking. The setting is great. It is isolated and through Dani we know that cell phone service isn’t great here. There is only a small part where it seems to work. That was a good touch. The cinematography and framing help to set this up. It helps to build tension as well. The effects were also good. There’s a person wearing a creepy mask and that was great. It is unnerving how it slowly becomes visible in a dark room. Credit to that. I’m assuming there was CGI most likely used. If it was, it looked good. This wooden statue was effective. No issues here. I’ll also say that the music and the sound design work together to build what they needed.

The last thing then would be acting. I already said that Lee worked in his role. What works across the board is meeting these characters, then developing them along with the story. Bracken was good in both roles that she played. I like that these sisters are twins, but almost complete opposites. She does well in bringing both to life. Murphy works in his role as did Menton. Steve Wall plays Ivan, who is an orderly who is a bit too rough. He’s solid there. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

In conclusion, this is a solid follow up to the writer/director’s earlier movie. I think that this shows progression and is more polished. This does great in building a creepy atmosphere. There are effective jump-scares, which I’m not always a fan of. The acting is solid, being led by Bracken who takes on dual roles. The rest of the cast fit for what was needed. I’ll credit the filmmaking from the setting to cinematography, framing, effects and sound design. One that I’m glad that I saw and that I’ve also given it a rewatch. It isn’t as effective the second time around, but still one that will be on the upper end of my list for 2024.

My Rating: 8 out of 10