ODDITY

Director: Damian McCarthy
Starring: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Caroline Menton, Tadhg Murphy, Steve Wall, Johnny French

2024 is shaping up to be a strong year for the horror genre with audiences and critics loving movies like Longlegs, In a Violent Nature, and Late Night with the Devil. The new film Oddity is another one to add to the list that was will genre fans talking. Writer/director Damian McCarthy creates a moody tone as the opening aerial tracking shot pulls up to a massive castle stuck away in the middle of the woods. There’s no one around which should tip off audiences who are familiar with this territory. Carolyn Bracken plays Dani who is all alone in the castle fixing things up and redecorating. Her husband, Ted (Lee), works at a local mental health institution. A strange man knocks on the door claiming Dani is in trouble and that someone has snuck into her house. You can guess what happens next as McCarthy doesn’t actually show Dani’s murder. He cuts to a year later where we meet Dani’s sister, Darcy, who is also played by Carolyn Bracken. She is blind, has brain cancer, and runs an oddities antiques store. She claims she can read objects and spiritually connect to the dead. Darcy is a forceful presence who scares Ted’s new girlfriend Yana about the unexpected realities of Dani’s death. Now in theaters and will be streaming on Shudder at a later date.

here’s my review