Oddity is yet another another shoestring prestige horror flick. It comes to us from writer/director Damien Mc Carthy, who’s effectively making his feature debut after his first movie, Caveat, got lost in the merciless sewage drain that was the year 2020. So, let’s see what we’ve got this time.
We lay our scene in the Ireland boondocks, where an old (possibly haunted) house has been recently purchased for renovation. The new owner is Dr. Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee), a stick-in-the-mud skeptic who works at the mental asylum in town. The plot kicks off in earnest when Ted’s wife (Dani, played by Carolyn Bracken) is brutally slain in the house under mysterious circumstances.
Cut to a year later, when the only suspect in Dani’s murder (Olin Boole, played by Tadhg Murphy) is found on the floor with a steaming red mess where his head should be. Not that it matters to Ted, because he’s got a career and a house renovation to be getting on with, in addition to his new girlfriend. I hasten to add that the new girl (Yana, played by Carolyn Menton) is a pharmaceutical sales rep, which is all manner of sleazy for too many unprofessional and unethical reasons to discuss here.
And into all this comes Darcy (Bracken again), twin sister to the late Dani. Darcy is an eccentric blind psychic, running an antique shop full of cursed and haunted items. (Imagine a garage sale at Ed and Lorraine Warren’s house.) She gets to thinking that there’s more to Dani’s untimely passing, and makes herself a houseguest at Ted’s place to investigate. For extra measure, she brings along a grotesque wooden statue that apparently holds deep emotional value as a family heirloom. Hilarity ensues.
By far the biggest problem the movie has is that the jump scares freaking suck. The score is hopelessly overblown, the jump scares are too few and far between, the timing is all wrong, and too many of the jump scares come right out of nowhere. Though admittedly, there are one or two exceptions: There’s an ingenious moment with a video recording that was beautifully executed.
Even so, the biggest problem with the jump scares is that they felt forced and gratuitous, completely at odds with the rest of the picture. The plot was clearly built for supernatural suspense, carefully nurturing a spooky atmosphere and a general sense of mystery. I get the value in some degree of relief, but the jump scares are less like a release valve and more like a blown gasket.
Frankly, the central mystery is compelling and chilling enough without the forced horror. It’s diabolically clever how the film weaves in these weird little quirks and anomalies, teasing it all out until everything weaves together in those dynamite third-act reveals. This is definitely one of those beautiful times when a slow-burn movie pays off.
A lot of that has to do with the cast. Yes, we’ve got the first victim who dies for making too many rookie mistakes, we’ve got the intellectual who stubbornly refuses to accept what he’s seeing, we’ve got the high-maintenance blonde who only exists to be scared, we’ve got the psychic who’s socially inept but knows more than she’s letting on, and so forth. These are all threadbare archetypes and the film makes little effort at reinventing them. Yet the filmmakers find inspired ways of taking the characters in new directions without crossing the boundaries imposed by the characters’ respective archetypes. It’s tough to sufficiently describe without getting into spoilers, but it’s freaking genius.
A lot of it has to do with the cast. I love how Bracken played Darcy with the perfect balance of apathy, and her work at playing two distinct twin sisters is rock-solid. Elsewhere, Lee and Menton both do remarkable work at bringing some degree of dimension to such tired horror cliches. Ditto for Steve Wall, who turns in dynamic work playing the hate-sink heavy… right up until he doesn’t. Long story.
It sucks that the horror element is the weakest part of Oddity, and the strongest parts can’t be properly discussed without spoilers. Luckily, the obnoxious jump scares are only speed bumps in what’s otherwise an elegantly constructed paranormal murder mystery. The creepy vibes, inspired plotting, and strong performances are all enough to make up for the ham-fisted pop-up stings.
In summary, this is the cinematic equivalent of a campfire ghost story. This is a movie to watch with your friends while you’re curled up together on a sofa. On those conditions, this gets a strong recommendation.