Oddity Review
Oddity (2024) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy and starring Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Johnny French and Chris Mudrack.
IFC Films strikes again with a weirdly obscure but unique new horror film titled, Oddity. Directed by Damian Mc Carthy, this new picture has a lot of twists but they are unveiled at a rather slow pace which could turn off some impatient viewers. Consequently, the thrills and chills the picture offers will be so surprising that, perhaps, the wild answers to several of the film’s plot threads will be worth waiting for.
This film opens with the character of Dani (Carolyn Bracken) confronting a visitor at her oversize home. This man, Olin Boole (a well-cast Tadhg Murphy) is a one-time murderer/mental patient who asks Dani to open the door as he warns her that someone dangerous is inside her house. Dani’s husband is Ted (Gwilym Lee) who spends his time working at the psychiatric hospital that is nearby. He’s not there at that moment. Dani soon abruptly disappears from the action as the film displays its title credit and then we meet her blind twin, Darcy who owns a shop that sells peculiar oddities; hence the film’s title. Darcy warns her customers not to shoplift because those who steal will deal with something far greater than the law. Darcy says people often learn the errors of their ways when they shoplift and return any and all stolen items accordingly.
Enter Yana (Caroline Menton) who Ted is now seeing after Dani’s departure. Ted has moved on quickly after losing Dani which makes the viewer think there may well be a reason to keep one’s eye on Ted as a character. The plot develops at a snail’s pace, though. There are secrets and lies which unfold in a way that make this movie feel like something of the equivalent of a horror movie soap opera with its twins, deceit and suspense all helping the story line details fall into place much like they would in a typical soap opera.
There are things here that are apparent and obvious. Then, there are also elements sprinkled in which are wholly unique such as a wooden replica of a man that plays a very important part in the plot. When things are found inside the wooden man such as pictures and other unique items, Darcy suggests putting them back because they are not to be tampered with for reasons I’ll leave you to discover.
Without giving too much away, the movie lovingly pays homage towards the end to The Silence of the Lambs with a killer who is masked just like Hannibal Lecter was. When he’s unleashed on a key bad guy in the film, it makes for some very satisfying results to be certain. Meanwhile, the main location of the house that the movie takes place in is quite creepy and well-constructed, adding a significant amount of dread to the already solemn nature of the film’s dark story line.
Oddity has some solid performances as well. Some you may want to see killed off more quickly than others. One who is unfairly taken away from the action too early is Dani but Bracken, the actress who plays her, fares much better in her juicier role as the twin sister who knows a bit too much about what happens when spirits are left to play with those who least expect them to be real. Bracken shows promise as Dani but scores a touchdown in her portrayal of Darcy who ultimately meets a fate she will not deserve. But, perhaps, there are forces at work that will help her take vengeance on those who wrong her and they might even save her soul.
Caroline Menton, as Yana, is intriguing to watch as this character takes a fascination with the very mysterious wooden man which is basically just the top half of a body in wooden form, except scarier. Yana will learn a couple of things about Ted as the story continues to unfold. Lee’s Ted is well-constructed even if you can tell the outcome of certain elements of the character’s actions far earlier than was required by the script.
This is essentially Carolyn Bracken’s movie and she’s more than welcome to it. IFC distributes really good horror movies so it was expected that this one would be frightening and delivers on that promise for horror fans and then some. The film’s ending leaves the door wide open for a sequel as there is probably more to just ringing a bell to get the attention of the dead than there may seem to be on the surface. In any event, the final image will haunt the viewer but the movie drives it all home in such a way that it’s not as dark as it could have been despite some pretty bloody scenes interspersed into the action throughout.
Oddity is the type of midnight horror movie that will get better as it ages. So what if it’s slow moving to start? IFC’s films tend to age like fine wine and this one has the potential to cause many a nightmare or two as it reaches its clever and satisfying resolution. Bracken’s one-two punch of a performance drives the story to its inevitable but still riveting conclusion.
Rating: 7/10
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