54962: Oddity

Thanks to my Dad, I developed a taste for Saturday Night Live at a very early age (like, four or five), and as my brother and I got older, we would routinely stay up late on Saturdays to watch it together. And in our TV market, as soon as SNL ended, Friday the 13th: The Series began. If you're one of the literally  hundreds of people who watched it, you already know that Ft13:TS, as it is known to fans, centered on a pair of cousins and their uncle who are cursed with the ownership of an antique shop filled with equally cursed artifacts. It's a familiar trope now, with Needful Things being maybe the biggest in the genre, and thanks to my memories of watching Ft13:TS with my brother back in the 80s, it's one which holds a special place in my heart.

Oddity takes that cursed artifact shop trope and weaponizes it, creating a chilling horror flick that mixes Shallow Grave-era Danny Boyle with some Hitchcock and Agatha Christie to wonderful effect. Writer/director Damian Mc Carthy builds a taut, terrifying ride, powered by grounded performances from the cast, menacing cinematography and editing, truly stellar practical effects, and some memorably disturbing makeup and character design.

The story focuses on twin sisters, Dani and Darcy, both brought to life by Carolyn Bracken. Early in the film (no spoiler here), Dani is horrifically murdered in the isolated country house she is renovating with her husband, psychiatrist Ted, played by Gwilym Lee. We're left unsure of who did it or how or why she was murdered at all, and Mc Carthy's treatment of her death is absolutely brilliant in its ambiguity.

One year and one more gruesome murder later, we catch up with Ted as he visits his former sister-in-law, Darcy. She is the one who runs the antique shop full of cursed artifacts. Oh, and she's also a powerful medium. And she's blind. And she looks exactly like her dead sister, except her hair is so blonde its almost a Hitchcock trope white. She invites herself to catch up with Ted at his place, and Ted nebulously agrees to the general idea, and leaves. So, naturally, Darcy shows up at his place like two days later.

Now, this place of Ted's is, it should be noted, also the scene of his wife's grisly, hammer-based murder. Mc Carthy sets the present action almost entirely on top of the same intimate, unfinished, and unfurnished space where we met Dani. Except, now that space has been turned into a tasteful home, mixing modern and rustic aesthetics in a very HGTV-by-way-of-Ireland way. However, it is still the same floor, ceiling, and walls that reverberated with Dani's final, terrified screams. It's kinda fucked up that her husband would just, you know, finish unpacking and live there (with his new girlfriend). It's not like he'd spent years there, building a life and creating happy memories that tied him to the place. This was their new place, which means the violent death of his wife is, like, the first big milestone he's lived through in that home. #RedFlag

Now, Darcy has not shown up alone. She brought a friend. A cursed friend. A wooden, cursed friend. She brought a wooden golem, as a housewarming/anniversary gift, and it's creepy as hell. (also: #RedFlag) What plays out over the remainder of the film is part ghost story, part murder mystery, and part family psychodrama. There are jump scares galore, plenty of golem-related creepiness, and a suitable number of plot twists to keep it interesting without being ridiculous.

Looking just at the script, this could be readily adapted into a stage play. However, Mc Carthy's direction, Colm Hogan's cinematography, Richard G. Mitchell's music, and Brian Philip Davis' editing turn Oddity into more than the sum of its parts. This is a claustrophobic gem of a horror movie, with tons to say about hubris, arrogance, narcissism, karma, and home ownership. I urge you to see this on a big screen, if possible, because that wooden man is just incredibly detailed and disturbing. Watch it now, watch it at Halloween, watch it before you begin any home improvement project.