A dark tale that follows twin sisters Dani and Darcy (Carolyn Bracken), ‘Oddity’ uses horror and a thrilling narrative to uncover the truth behind the passing of Dani. Set in a remote location where Dani is renovating a newly acquired country house for her hand her husband Ted (Gwilym Lee), tragedy ensues as Dani is apparently killed by a recently released patient from a psychiatric facility, Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), one of Ted’s former patients.
Dark and instantly exciting, the setting of the film presents a familiar yet intriguing playground for horror fans. A remote and isolated country house, ripe for exploring the dark and quiet nights in the boondocks, the film quickly presents a non-linear sequence of events and forces the inquisitive nature of any viewer to engage.
Perhaps a little predictable to viewers well versed in horror, the mystery of what has happened to Dani becomes easy to decipher after mysterious and supernatural misdoings are eliminated as an option. Possibly one of the films weaker points, the betrayal stems from Lee’s Ted. Having found a new love with colleague Yana (Caroline Menton), Ted had asked Ivan (Steve Wall) to murder Dani so as to ensure he gets to keep the house and does not have to deal with a messy divorce.
A surprising turn from the film, Ted’s justification for murdering his wife is his preconceived notion that Dani is so taken and in love with him that she would not make things easy for him during the split. Aggravating to watch, Lee delivers a character lacking in both remorse and shame, with him having already moved in his new partner where Dani had met her end before the one year mark since the murder.
Trying to balance the scales to find the truth behind how her sister died, Darcy uses her abilities as a clairvoyant to examine Olin’s glass eye, to look into the past and determine if he was in fact the one to take Dani’s life. Imposing herself on Yana and Ted, Darcy goes to the house and requests to spend the night there. Bringing with her a family heirloom, a wooden man bestowed to her mother by a witch, Darcy is set to uncover the truth.
Even though we may see the penultimate showdown coming a mile away, ‘Oddity’ contains a wealth of bona fide scares. With writer director Damian McCarthy helming the project, what could have amounted to another haunted house horror showcase has in fact turned out to be one of the more enjoyable and anxiety inducing experiences that contemporary horror films may not be too interested in delivering.
Containing strong performances on all fronts to form a cohesive and compelling drama, the film does not sacrifice any scares to facilitate that. Rather, the film leans into the emotional connections between its players and exploits the more quiet moments to deliver effective scares.
Going beyond clever surprises, the film has a feel to it, that it has been crafted by someone who has seen their share of scary movies, is familiar with the well known and usual tropes and has dared to dream up shocks that go beyond what can be expected and what does truly exhilarate.
Set in a place almost demanding to be used for scares, the environment is exploited to its full potential with practically every dark corner and crevice used to induce an uneasy atmosphere. Fear acting as the major character during the third act, the wooden mannequin coming to life may take away a little of its mystery, but the film more than makes up for it with a few more unpleasant and unexpected jolts before its finale.
Score: 4/4
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