Written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy, after Dani is brutally murdered, her blind occultist twin sister Darcy, goes after those responsible using inherited haunted items as her tools of revenge. Starring: Carolyn Bracken, Gwilym Lee, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton and Steve Wall.
The quick way to deconstruct Oddity is that there are some things it does really well and there are some that are too close to what we’ve seen many times before. Starting with the positive, the atmosphere, tone and overall vibe are absolutely there. It’s creepy, ominous and has a nice vein of the supernatural and occult running through it. The filmmakers chose a great location which is plenty isolated and even gives a certain timeless quality. Damian Mc Carthy leans into the quiet and darkness to elevate the air of suspicion and guilt. Visually it’s definitely ticking the right boxes.
Another big tick is the character of Dani, played by Carolyn Bracken, she’s fantastic and everything you could want from a horror lead. Bracken so perfectly instils in her that quality of being connected to the other side, to have a bigger awareness and keen sense for death and pain. Creating such a confident, forthright character who is hugely enjoyable to watch. It’s also always refreshing to see characters with disabilities not being made ultra-vulnerable, she’s fiercely independent, capable and throws in a great wit for a cherry on top.
Its weaknesses appears when we arrive at the other characters, quickly getting the first out of the way with Caroline Menton’s Yana, who is intentionally but irredeemably annoying. While the performance is spot on, the character gets too much screentime and her place is much too transparent. Therein lies the key problem, there’s a good amount to the story that’s simply too predictable. Partly because the last of the leading trio of characters, Gwilym Lee’s Ted, is not at all subtle. Ultimately creating a plot that we’ve seen many times before, but to its credit with a few nicely original touches, it’s just a shame that originality didn’t bleed into the entire film.
Oddity has a superb spooky vibe and is led by an excellent performance, Carolyn Bracken creates a character you could happily watch a whole franchise of, not unlike Lin Shaye’s Elise. The direction creates a solid, suspicious atmosphere and brings through the vein of haunting and the occult really well. However, at its core is a story which doesn’t reflect the originality that its other elements are sparking. So, while there are a few very nice jump scares, it needed a bit more unpredictability, or to dial up its violence to reach its full potential. Although, its wooden man will probably haunt plenty of dreams in the future.
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