If you’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing the 2020 horror film Caveat, then you might already be familiar with the masterful way Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy is able to create a puzzle box of truly unnerving suspense with his stories - and a petrifying atmosphere that can really get under his audiences’ skin. He now returns with his second feature, Oddity, an impressive step up from his debut that features one or two of the most genuinely terrifying, jump-inducing frames in recent scary movie history. It’s also just a great spooky tale in its own right, and a strong case for McCarthy being one of the most important voices in the genre right now.
Oddity opens on a secluded old country house where couple Dani (You Are Not My Mother’s Carolyn Bracken) and Ted Timmis (The Great and Bohemian Rhapsody’s Gwilym Lee) have recently moved in and begun renovating. One fateful night, Dani is home alone while Ted, who works at the nearby mental hospital as a psychiatrist, is on duty. Dani goes out to get something from her car, leaving the front door open for only a moment. She swears she hears something while outside, but quickly dismisses it since it’s very unlikely anyone or anything might be lurking around her quiet sequestered home.
Suddenly, a strange ragged man named Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), who Dani recognizes as one of her husband’s patients, appears at her doorstep. With increasing desperation and aggravation, he begs her to leave the house, telling her that he saw someone go inside while she wasn’t looking. This is, of course, incredibly suspicious, but Olin is weirdly convincing in his own way. Dani is torn between going against her better judgment and opening the door, or taking the risk of just ignoring the man and staying put.
This opening scene could exist as a solidly suspenseful short all its own. It's so good that once it reaches its nail-biting end you almost forget that there’s still almost an entire movie left to go. McCarthy once again showcases his knack for sowing seeds of doubt and anxiety, but he does it here so immediately and effectively. It’s all the more impressive that the rest of Oddity somehow manages to keep your interest going and grow all the more frightening.
The film then jumps ahead one year, shifting focus to Dani’s twin sister Darcy (Bracken performs both roles), a blind woman who runs a business selling oddities and performing psychic readings. Determined to discover the truth surrounding her sister’s mysterious fate a year prior, Darcy pays a visit to her brother-in-law Ted, who is now residing in the finished home with his new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton). Bizarre and malevolent occurrences start taking place in the house that night, and things quickly spiral into a nightmare.
Much like Caveat before it, Oddity takes place almost entirely in a single location. The Timmis’ old, creaky, home makes for a fine setting as far as classic haunted houses go, and McCarthy is exceptionally good at getting the most use out of the limited space. In fact, the Oddity house is actually the exact same set the filmmaker used for Caveat, although it’s hardly recognizable as such. Fans of that film will also want to keep an eye on the shelves in Darcy’s shop, where she keeps certain items of interest.
McCarthy’s latest movie permeates a truly foreboding atmosphere of dread and tension, almost reinventing the time-honored tradition of the jump scare with how effectively frightening he’s able to execute the ones here. Darcy is also a rather compelling protagonist in her relentless quest for the truth; her unique combination of blindness and psychometric powers make the way she goes about her business all the more interesting.
Oddity is a wonderful thrill to experience by yourself in the dark or munching on popcorn with a group - it’s going to earn reactions no matter what. It’s expertly tight filmmaking that leaves you holding your breath without realizing it, backed by a winding yet gripping story that you can’t afford to miss the end to. Easily one of the best of the horror genre this year, this is one scary movie not to miss.
‘Oddity’ begins streaming exclusively on Shudder this September 27th and is available to rent or own digitally.
