Begging to be let in, a long-haired man with one glass eye, Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy) knocks on a dark-haired woman’s locked door claiming to warn her that there is an intruder inside her stone house. That woman, Dani (Carolyn Bracken), ends up murdered. A year later, her platinum haired, twin sister, Darcy (also Bracken, who resembles a tinier version of Gwendoline Christie from “Game of Thrones”) who inherited the family business, Odello’s Oddities, Antiques & Collectibles, accepts her brother-in-law’s invitation to visit the home. Despite being a widower for a short time, Dr. Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee), the doctor at the local insane asylum, has moved on with a new girlfriend, pharmaceutical rep Yana (Caroline Menton), who hates living in the same isolated house where Dani was murdered. Yana is beginning to think that the place is haunted. With a wooden dummy shipped ahead of her arrival, Darcy turns up on their doorstep. Yana does not mince words or hide her displeasure, but Darcy makes herself at home, which leads to another eventful night at the Timmis residence. Irish writer and director Damian Mc Carthy’s sophomore feature, “Oddity” (2024), is a satisfying puzzle where all the pieces fit.
Bracken beats Tom Hardy because her performance makes Dani and Darcy visually seem like two separate people. Dani is warm and can pass for a normal average woman although she has a weird streak just like her sister. Happily married for four years, she bounces around the empty house oblivious to the danger that she is in until it is too late, but she is not stupid. Her sins are not being able to read people and fully unpack the car before settling in for the night.
In contrast, Darcy is an unsettling figure who strikes a formidable figure and seems in complete control despite being more physically vulnerable than her sister. This feature is not revealed in the previews so let’s consider it a spoiler and move on though most reviews will mention her physical disability. She is a psychometric person who can touch objects and gain first-hand knowledge of the owner’s personal history, which comes in handy when trying to solve your sister’s murder. As Darcy, Bracken’s physicality and way of moving through space is riveting. Though made of sterner stuff than her sister—she never falls apart in the face of danger, she shares one of her sister’s blind spots in not thinking worse of people.
The twins have an interest in the supernatural, which Ted, a man of science, dismisses. In many ways, “Oddity” is an evangelical text striving to convince Ted that rules govern the universe. It is a supernatural “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989), but instead of a nonexistent God failing to dispense justice, the collective supernatural rallies to shake Ted out of his hubris and confidence in his cold, logical powers. While Ted seems kind when he comes bearing gifts at her shop, he reveals himself as two-faced when she arrives at his door and strains his polite façade. He sticks Yana with the dirty work of dealing with Darcy. Lee delivers a textbook perfect performance that should be studied in the future when it comes to giving a realistic portrait of a person who looks good on paper and knows how to do everything right yet just feels a bit off.
Yana is not a woman happy to please her significant other and expects the opposite, but Ted is not rising to the occasion. She is blunt and does nothing to veil her disgust at having to show hospitality to her boyfriend’s sister-in-law. She does not even like his house, but that does not mean she wants just anyone staying there without her permission even though she has no skin in the game. Menton is the perfect unlikable woman, and Mc Carthy deserves a gold medal for never treating her like the villain or trying to take her down a peg, but a three-dimensional person who is an entitled jerk. It is refreshing to have two women just straight out metaphorically bump heads and act how they feel instead of passive aggressive seething through gritted teeth. While they are not friends, they are also not enemies, and solidarity among sisters transcends blood as the women come to an understanding of how to deal with such an unusual situation. Kudos to Yana who wanted to leave from the moment that she appears on screen. She knew that she was in a horror movie and was willing to lose a love interest instead of her life.
While “Oddity” may be too convenient and neat for some movie lovers, after “Longlegs” (2024), it is nice to have a writer and director who clearly spent a lot of time thinking about how all the elements fit in the story. Casual elements play pivotal roles later, including a digital camera, keys, cell phone reception, a home renovation, a bell, etc. Mc Carthy also provides enough information about the objects to pique interest, but not so much background that it gets pedantic or laborious, which made “The Watchers” (204) almost unwatchable. There is enough mystery left for the moviegoers’ imagination to run wild and fill in the gaps. For me, it was fairly early in the film when I knew how everything was going to work out, specifically the introduction of a character not featured in any of the trailers and the cold demeanor of this character’s friend during a phone call. Pay attention if words fail to correspond with the sentiment behind them.
Mc Carthy also takes tropes and redeems them. Unlike such faves as “Halloween” (1978), the patients at the insane asylum are the least problematic characters in the film. Also for once, being strange looking does not mean someone is a villain, and ethereal, translucent beauty does not mean goodness or perfection. Mc Carthy’s choice of who lives and dies reveals a cheeky streak that is merciless and sometimes just considering each character’s backstory.
Mc Carthy also avoids the “Looper” (2012) problem where too many tropes or unusual occurrences could leave a muddled mess and leave moviegoers unable to suspend disbelief. Instead, he mixes numerous elements from supernatural mythology (restless spirits, cursed objects, psychometry, Golem-like figures) and true crime (insane asylums, a mean orderly, mommy murderers, cheating suspicions, and a budget Hannibal Lecter) without confusing his audience or leaving any dangling threads. The narrative weaves two separate timelines, and Mc Carthy makes it easy to deduce when a scene is occurring.
Even if you watch too many movies and correctly predict every twist and turn in “Oddity,” Mc Carthy has the rare gift of making an effective jump scare. His use of sound, rapid edits with the same framing and composition of door frames and negative space makes for a suspenseful and tense viewing. He definitely favors certain themes: dashed brains, eyes, open doors, looking for lost items in cars. If Mc Carthy ever shows deleted scenes, there better be one with the man who delivers packages to the Timmis’ home or the one that ships packages for Darcy because the professionalism that it takes to ship cursed items and live to see another day needs to immediately be featured delivering a TED Talk. In a perfect world, Mc Carthy reads and critiques Oz Perkins’ screenplays, and Perkins encourages the measured Mc Carthy to swing for the fences a little more so a movie like “Oddity’ can be more unhinged and chilling.
For the overthinkers, looking back at “Oddity” may expose some flaws, especially as one thinks about the logistics of Olin Boole’s fate compared to the denouements’ revelations. Also whatever happened to the asylum’s resident artist, Declan Barrett (Johnny French). Though the accents are not thick, it takes a while to get used to the cadence so it could have been revealed. but missed. The film begins with lots of overhead shots of the house, which is rectangular and the center acts as a parking lot yet the interior only shows a fraction of that rectangle. What happened to the rest of that space? The bathroom placement is enough to make most pass up on this money pit, which makes for a gorgeous asset in a Gothic horror movie, but not for practical living. The entire environment gave off “Men” (2022) vibe.
“Oddity” will make most people want to watch Mc Carthy’s first feature, “Caveat” (2020), and look forward to his future work. While he uses a plethora of well-worn tropes, his ability to make them fresh and frighten even the most seasoned horror fans proves that he and his excellent ensemble cast have earned this time in the spotlight. Keep up the good work.
