Oddity

Don’t assume that just because this Irish horror film hovers around the low-budget sphere, it cannot possibly add up to much… far from it! ODDITY is genuinely creepy and unsettling, one of those films which unfolds a feeling of unease slowly, thus making the climax all the more terrifying. This Shudder Original turned out to be a big hit at the 2024 ‘South by Southwest’ festival in Texas and it’s easy to see why.

What’s particularly clever here is Brian Philip Davis’ editing, which is not only unusual but heightens the fear level. We are introduced to Dani Odello-Timmis (Carolyn Bracken), the wife of Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee) - a psychiatrist whose patients seem as disturbed (and as disturbing) as the movie itself. It’s not specified where exactly the action takes place though it is presumably around Ireland’s Cork area, including its picturesque countryside. It’s in the tranquil rural area where the story unfolds, to be more precise, in a large country house which looks as if it once had stables attached to it. Renovation works are far from finished and Dani potters about the house while Ted is often away during evenings, looking after his patients in the clinic. When, during one evening, Dani finds herself alone again, a man unexpectedly turns up at the front door. He is Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), one of Ted’s patients. With his glass eye, he looks freaky enough, alas, never judge a book by its cover! He has come to warn Dani that a stranger has broken into the house and may well wish her harm. Who could blame Dani for not believing a single word that Olin says? Apart from the fact that he doesn’t exude trust, what with his background and physical appearance, how on earth would he actually know that a stranger just broke into the house and more to the point, what is he doing loitering outside the Timmis home in the first place? No, Dani doesn’t believe him though soon she finds out the hard way that a masked intruder seems indeed to have found his way into the house. It’s all a bit weird, because Dani is actually inside a tent which is inside one of the open plan floors in the house, playing around with a camera which in turn is digitally connected to an indoor monitor camera. We don’t quite know what Dani is doing inside a tent when she’s inside her home anyway, if anything, it adds to the feeling that something deeply unpleasant is about to happen… and it does…

We then make a big jump, like, one year later, when Ted and his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Mention) are getting cosy in the house, which finally begins to look like a proper home. Through snippets of conversation, we learn that Dani has died one year ago though initially, her cause of death is not revealed to us, the viewer (although we can guess). With some time off from his duties as a psychologist, Ted visits Darcy Odello (also portrayed by Carolyn Bracken), Dani’s twin sister who not only happens to be blind but is also a clairvoyant with psychometric powers. Darcy runs a little shop, aptly called Cabinet of Curiosities and claims that she can tell what has happened to a certain individual (or even what will happen to a certain person) purely by touching objects connected to them. Just how she can run a shop being blind is not explained. One such object is a call bell, with Darcy claiming – much to Ted’s amusement – that whoever rings the bell will be killed by the ghost of a bellhop, who appears after the bell is rang. As if the call bell saga wasn’t eerie enough, Darcy proceeds to open a little box which contains a glass eye. Upon closer inspection, it’s the glass eye which belonged to Olin Boole and now the film temporarily goes into reverse gear, as we see what happened to Dani (warning: it’s not pleasant). Continuing with polite small talk, Ted invites Darcy to visit him and Yana in their home when time allows though Darcy appears surprised, if not altogether irritated, that Ted seems to have a new girlfriend so soon after her sister’s death. Probing further, Darcy demands to know whether Ted already knew his new girlfriend while Dani was still alive, with him stating coolly that Yana, a pharmaceutical representative, has in fact been a work colleague for some considerable time. Likewise irritated by Darcy’s attitude, Ted leaves the store though the invitation still stands.

Sure enough, Darcy arrives unexpected some time later and it’s crystal clear that her unannounced visit is about to scupper plans for the couple. Yana had planned to drive into town while Ted is pencilled in for shift work at his clinic. Darcy, however, has no intention of leaving and points out that Ted had invited her after all. Besides, her visit coincides with the first anniversary of her twin sister’s death. Not only is she adamant about spending the night in the house, she also points to a large crate which has been delivered to Ted’s house shortly before her arrival. The crate contains a life-sized mannequin made of wood and looks so horrifying, it’s enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies! Why has Darcy brought this bizarre oddity to Ted’s house? If you want the answer, watch the film because it’s from hereon that the terror truly unfolds, with unexpected twists and turns along the way!
It really doesn’t matter that the primary setting is Ted’s house, in fact, it contributes to the claustrophobic nightmare our two unwilling hosts, Ted and Yana, are about to endure. Carolyn Bracken is both terrifying and terrific in her double role, though admittedly her character Dani doesn’t get much screen time. As for her portrayal of Darcy: this is one clairvoyant you don’t want to mess with! Director Damian McCarthy, who also wrote the screenplay, has delivered a clever little horror film that ticks all the right boxes.

ODDITY is available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital and offers the following Bonus Material: Behind-the-Scene with Cast & Crew / Storyboard to Screen featurette / Making of Wooden Mannequin gallery.