Oddity is a supernatural horror movie developed by Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy in 2024. It is a brooding, slow burning thriller. It mixes elements like a murder mystery, dark atmosphere, and occult intrigue all set in a remote, country house filled with strange curiosities. With its unsettling, rich visual style, and its use of symbolic horror, Oddity has quickly stood out as one of the year’s most distinctive genre films.
Overview and Origins
Damian McCarthy directed this year’s psychological horror film Caveat. McCarthy’s tale is once again enclosed in a space and filled with dread. McCarthy again uses the same converted barn in West Cork, Ireland, his childhood home, as a central setting. This home filled with shadows, and decaying relics, becomes the centerpiece for the film’s haunting atmosphere.
Inspired by doll horror such as Child’s Play and Creep Show, McCarthy uses a life-sized animatronic wooden doll to enhance the unsettling atmosphere of the film. Designed by effects artist Paul McDonnell, the doll acts as a visual and thematic centerpiece in a story where grief, vengeance, and the supernatural cries for destruction.
Cast and Characters
Carolyn Bracken takes on dual roles as Dani Odello-Timmis, a photographer whose demise begins the story’s action, and her blind twin sister Darcy Odello, a medium and operator of a traveling cabinet of curiosities. Darcy’s performance adds a potent mixture of unnerving otherworldliness and emotional depth.
Ted Timmis, Dani’s husband, is portrayed by Gwilym Lee. As a practicing psychiatrist, Ted is the epitome of a rational and structured man. This makes him an ironic counterpart to the supernatural elements that unravel around him.
Tadhg Murphy as Olin Boole, a psychiatric patient, draws the audience in with an eerie warning that shapes the film’s opening sequences.
Caroline Menton’s character as Yana, Ted’s girlfriend, finds herself tethered to the pervasive guilt and horror stemming from the events of the haunted house.
Filling out the tense, paranoid ensemble are Steve Wall as Ivan and Jonathan French as Declan in addition to the Supporting roles.
Film Summary
The film starts off with Dani and Ted moving into a derelict country home with renovation plans. One night, while Ted is away, Dani is visited by Olin, a disturbed patient from Ted’s psychiatric hospital. Olin, who is frantic, suddenly lashes out at Dani, saying she has a dark presence before Dani is viciously attacked offscreen and is left dead.
Around a year later, Dani’s murder case is still unsolved and Ted is living in the home with Yana. Now, Dani’s blind twin sister, Darcy, arrives with a life-sized wooden mannequin she claims is a relic from her occult collection. Darcy… also has her own theories about her sister’s murder and plans to use her occult knowledge and psychic powers to uncover the truth.
The night unfolds like a mystery for Darcy as she witnesses a series of odd occurrences. The mannequin whispers and moves effortlessly. Doors unlock and open unassisted, and keys are nowhere to be found. To top it off, darkness seems to swirl in the room’s corners. It is then that Darcy reveals the murderer conspiracy theory of the century.
She suspects that Ted, alongside his clinic accomplice Ivan, has been the mastermind behind Dani’s murder and has been trying to frame her sister’s death for a ‘new life’ with Yana.
With the escalating tension, deepening secrets, supernatural, and psychological horrors start to merge. Darcy suffers an attack and falls through a trap door, landing in the house’s dark underbelly. She, in some way, manifests a form of life in the mannequin due to her belief, although it may be fueled by something much older and stronger. As a result, Ivan meets a gruesome death at her hands. Yana, horrified, leaves, and Ted is left in the house with the cursed relic, submerged in his guilt.
Visual Style and Atmosphere
Oddity’s tone, pacing, and atmosphere all contribute in creating the overall effect. The house is captured by Colm Hogan, the Cinematographer, using cold tones and shadowy frames with a lot of long takes. This compound awe and a sense of dreary feeling creates dread in every corner. Thus, the house is not only a tomb and a prison, but also a character in the story, like a dreamscape.
The mannequin serves a deeper purpose of being the supernatural judgment’s guilt and symbol of it. With its wooden stiffness and subtle movements, it evokes dread in a way that captures the audience long after the film. The mannequin does not simply serve as a prop but a vessel of unresolved guilt.
Editing by Brian Davis captures emotions and suspenseful moments using slow contrasts, creating an emotional and eerie atmosphere. Additionally, Lauren Kelly’s production design adds intricate details to the house and to Darcy’s cabinet of occult artifacts, which are unsettling.
Themes and Symbolism
Grief and Guilt
Oddity, primarily explores unprocessed grief, and the ways in which it can distort beliefs and actions, twisting perceptions and fueling supernatural ideas. Darcy mourns her sister’s death, but in her mind, it is coupled with an injustice that needs to be uncovered. Darcy’s grief acts as a tool to her regime, allowing her to summon what is needed, even if supernatural forces are necessary.
Perception vs. Reality
The film incorporates elements of blindness along with psychic abilities, which illustrates the focus on how perception shapes truth. A lack of sight can be contrasted with a heightened awareness of the spiritual world. On the contrary, Ted’s logical worldview acts as a slither of coping, which then blinds him to the darkness boiling right under his nose—until it’s far too late.
The Occult and Justice
Instead of an occultist villain, Darcy is a vigilante of justice, an unsettling lady who wields ancient relics and tools of the dark arts to uncover the hidden truths surrounding her sister’s murder. The mannequin is a relic brought to modern times that serves as an ancient judge, which is a part of her sister’s murder solving quest.
Reception and Awards
Oddity was one of the AB Southwest advance showcases in March 2024 and the reception was great, even winning as the audience’s choice in the midnighters section. It went on to receive additional accolades in horror and genre festivals, even winning the audience prize at the overlook film festival.
They focused on the film’s chilling atmosphere and strong performances, especially from Bracken and McCarthy’s tight direction. It was described as a mature and sophisticated evolution of the “haunted house” subgenre and a bold addition to the modern Irish horror film canon.
Final Words
Oddity is a captivating intelligent horror film that avoids cliches and takes a more subtle approach towards a slow, dread-filled, guilty, supernatural spiral. Damian McCarthy demonstrates yet again that he is a master of suspense steeped in the uncanny. Given the more subdued yet fervent brand of horror, well-drawn characters, and deeply unsettling and original focus, Oddity is bound to remain one of the most sharp and captivating horror films of the year.
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