Oddity (Ireland, 2024)

I judged Damian McCarthy’s Caveat a near miss when I reviewed it in 2020. While it was one of the creepier films I saw that year, it felt like it was missing something vital. Still, it displayed some real potential. With this in mind, I very much wanted to see what McCarthy might do with more experience and a bigger budget. Oddity provides the answer to that, and it’s good news.

Oddity is streaming on Shudder in the UK

Synopsis

Dani and Ted, a married couple, are fixing up a rustic farmhouse in western Ireland. When Ted, a psychiatrist by profession, has to head off to work the night shift at the hospital, Dani carries on working. She is interrupted by a strange one-eyed man at the door who warns her that he saw someone sneak into the house. The man offers to come in and help, but Dani doesn’t know if she can trust him.

Jumping to a year later, we learn that Dani was murdered that night. Her twin sister, Darcy, runs a shop called Cabinet of Curiosities, and believes many of the artefacts in her stock are cursed. Darcy knows this because she has a natural gift for psychometry. She is also blind, but her hands see all.

On the anniversary of Dani’s death, Darcy invites herself over to the farmhouse. Ted’s new girlfriend, Yana, is in the process of moving in, although she finds the house creepy. Yana and Ted are not happy about this visit, and even less so when Darcy presents them with a most unusual housewarming gift. This begins a weird game of cat-and-mouse.

So what really happened on the night Dani died? Can Dani use her psychic gift to uncover the truth? And just what is that creepy wooden mannequin doing there anyway?

General Thoughts

I was relieved when Oddity didn’t fall into the trap of demonising mentally illness. The strange man who turns up at the door turns out to be from the local psychiatric hospital, but his story ends up being a far more complex one than it first appears. While some of the mentally ill characters are capable of violence, they are no more dangerous than the purportedly sane people around them.

There are a couple of nice callbacks to McCarthy’s earlier film. Oddity being a supernatural mystery set in an isolated Irish farmhouse is already a strong echo, but McCarthy throws in an additional Easter egg by having the sinister stuffed rabbit from Caveat appear as one of the curios in Darcy’s shop.

Verdict

Oddity is a strong contender for my film of the month. It’s a classic ghost story, so simple at its core that it could have come from a 1950s horror comic, but with a few nice twists and turns. Almost everything that makes the film work is in its execution. It’s beautifully directed, with a script that plays around with tropes just enough to keep them interesting. In different hands, the premise might have been a black comedy, but playing it straight works perfectly here.

As with Caveat, McCarthy is masterful at creating atmosphere. This is a spooky film, and I can see it really frightening people who find ghost stories scary. Even if ghosts don’t get to you, however, the human evil in Oddity should creep you out. While it’s not a particularly dark film, especially compared to some others I’ve seen this month, it is nasty when it needs to be.

My only minor gripe is that I think the ending would have been stronger without the final couple of seconds. It’s still powerful, but it shows more than it needs to. For me, at least, that robs it of some of its menace.

Anyway, watch Oddity if you like horror films. And if you don’t like horror films, please let me know what you’re doing here!

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.