Posted by Oddity; 2024; Written & Directed by Damien McCarthy; Starring Carolyn Bracken, Gwilym Lee, Caroline Menton, Ireland; 98m
I am a lifelong horror fan. No doubt most of you reading this, who likely know me in real life from Crypticon, are as well. So we see many, many horror films. We become desensitized to the building fear and jump scares. But we can recognize when something is built well and appreciate that.
It’s entirely something else, despite this familiarity with the art of horror, when we are still brought in, on the edge of our seats, and jump at the right moments.
That’s a skill. And Oddity, from Caveat (2020) writer-director Damien McCarthy, brings that skill. Oddity is legitimately frightening, building a terrifying atmosphere, and landing a multitude of jump scares.
I had the pleasure of catching Oddity in a full house at the Seattle International Film Festival (the film won the SXSW Midnighter Award recently). As a festival audience, it was filled with cinephiles, deeply into film and the whys and hows of filmmaking. This audience was screaming. Full bore, sustained screams. Often one after another. Between the shock moments, the tension was palpable. In that audience were many people I know who live and breathe the genre, too. People who have seen everything, and are well versed in everything horror. We attend and work with Crypticon, the local horror convention. As panelists, interviewers, and film judges, we have seen everything. And I watched it with them. They were just as scared.
Now what freaked us out? (and how much am I building this too much to let you down when you see it?) Of course, I won’t give away the moments that make this film land, but I can look at a wider stance, right?
Dani (Carolyn Bracken, You Are Not My Mother) is alone in a mid-renovation isolated Irish manor (?; I am not sure what exactly this building was; it has a large courtyard, enclosed by four one-room wide sides). Her husband, Dr. Ted Temmis (Gwilym Lee, The Great) is working nights at a nearby sanitarium. One of his patients shows up, claiming he saw someone come in. Something bad happens, and a year later Dani’s twin sister Darcy (Bracken again) comes knocking at the home – with Dani replaced by Yana (Caroline Menton in a first role), looking for answers. She’s also brought two gifts. One, while blind Dani has psychometry – the ability to read a past from touch (and she runs a cursed artifact antique store). Two, a life-size wooden golem in the form of a man mid-scream. It’s creepy and makes a great image.
Thus begins a long night of terror. Histories and lies are confronted and uncovered. Reality is questioned. Darkness is peered into, scanning for what may lurk. Eyes glance at the golem, wondering what’s happening there. Ghosts, metaphoric and perhaps real haunt the screen. It builds to fantastically used jump scares. Real ones. Earned ones. Jump scares are often a crutch, aiming for a cheap shock over continuing tone. McCarthy deftly builds these moments into the unfolding story and they only increase the tension instead of releasing it.
Whether it be individual scenes or the overall story, it was all a surprise of just what was going to happen. Oddity’s storytelling is far from predictable, even when a truth is revealed, it could still feel like a feint, ready to drop another turn or scare. Nothing is obvious, and I applaud McCarthy for keeping me on my toes.
I’ve been praising horror filmmaking, but it wouldn’t work without writing and performances to get it to that level. McCarthy creates strong characters, ripe to have their layers revealed. There is a fascinating interplay between each set of characters (primarily one-on-one), with a wry wit; I’ve gone on about the scary but it’s darkly funny in a very natural way. Carolyn Bracken runs the film in the dual role of the twin sisters. Most of her time is spent as Darcy, and she does so with aplomb. It’s delicious watching her face Gwilym Lee’s Ted and his new belle. Menton’s Yana spends much of her time reacting and trying to just get through the situation and she does well making a supposed-to-be unlikable character more than just the prop she’d be in other films (again, thank you great writing).
With just a handful of characters and fewer settings (the vast majority is in the manse, with a few scenes elsewhere), Oddity is a claustrophobic film, increasingly bearing down upon the viewer. It’s scary. It’s shocking. It’s occasionally gruesome and gory (but not too much – that’s not the point here). While I’ve only seen four films so far this year at SIFF, I’m glad to report they’ve all been fantastic (for the record the others are- I Saw The TV Glow, Thelma, Babes, and In A Violent Nature; all will be reviewed by end of fest and I’ll update as I catch more), but Oddity is by far my favorite.
Oddity is currently playing the festival circuit but is due for a theatrical release on July 19, followed by streaming on Shudder later this year.
Other SIFF reviews by Bob: Oddity, In a Violent Nature, I Saw the TV Glow
All of us talk SIFF on the podcast episode devoted to SIFF and Crypticon
And check out Tony’s SIFF write ups at The Sunbreak: In a Violent Nature, The Primevals, Oddity/I Saw the TV Glow/Dragon Superman
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