An Irish-made film that will appeal to hardcore horror fans.
For as much as I enjoy Stephen King’s novels and delight in a good scare, I’m not a horror movie fanatic. By this, I mean that I don’t actively seek out the latest horror movies, I don’t have a Shudder subscription, and for as much as I respect the iconic, low-budget horrors of the 70s and 80s, I have no particular love for them.
I generally won’t watch a horror film unless there’s something unique about it to hook me in. It’s usually specific actors, directors, or source material that make me want to engage, but in the case of Oddity, it’s that this is an Irish-made film.
I’ve been burned many times on Irish-made horror films, but for some reason I keep coming back for more. I guess it’s a mix of national pride and the hope of being scared witless in the cinema—a rare, and coveted experience.
Dr. Strange
When Dani Timmins (Carolyn Bracken) is killed by a patient from the psychiatric hospital where her husband Ted (Gwilym Lee) works, Dani’s blind twin, Darcy (also Bracken), starts to behave strangely, inviting herself to Ted’s house for the night, bringing along a strange wooden mannequin...
I’ll admit that I had trouble forming that summary of Oddity’s premise. There really isn’t much to talk about when it comes to the plot of this movie and mentioning anything more than what I did threatens to spoil the best elements of the film—the scares.
Oddity is genuinely frightening… at times. It’s an incredibly slow-paced movie, which isn’t inherently bad. Slow pacing can build tension, which Oddity does to some success. The downside is that a slow pace forces us to spend a lot more downtime with the characters while we wait for things to happen, and this is where, for me, Oddity let me down the most.
The Thing Is…
These characters are nothing. They’re vehicles for some spooky moments, but they’re just not interesting on-screen. Apart from many of them not behaving in any recognisably human way, the acting can be quite choppy, too. For some people—horror fanatics—this won’t be much of an issue. Hardcore horror fans won’t be fazed by bad acting or paper-thin characters so long as the movie delivers on scares, which Oddity definitely does. For me though, a lot of this movie was a slog.
The scares are good though. Some characters find themselves in truly horrendous situations that had me holding my breath. There’s some eerie, effective sound design and some excellent jump-scares (jump scares get a bad rap because they can be cheap way to manufacture a fright, but when the situation is already frightening, they can really enhance the feeling).
The filmmakers also did well with what must’ve been a tight budget. They clearly had access to one particularly unique location (a “house” in the countryside that looks like something monks would’ve lived in centuries ago) and one unique prop (an eerie wooden mannequin) and squeezed as much narrative and tension out of them as possible.
Creep Show
I commend the craftiness this required. Oddity doesn’t feel lacking in the way many low-budget horror movies often do, be that in poor set design, poor audio quality, or poor editing. I think the movie was well-directed with some well-executed scares. I’d like to see what the director Damien Mc Carthy could do with a more finely-tuned script.
As things stand though, I can only really recommend Oddity to the serious horror fans out there. From what I understand, the movie will be streaming on Shudder later this month, which is great. I think it will find an audience that really appreciates the film there.
For the rest of us, Oddity certainly isn’t a film without merit. Just be patient. The scares will come.
***
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