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Fantasia 2024: Oddity Review
Image Credit: Colm Hogan/IFC Films
Loading...Directed by: Damian McCarthy
Written by: Damian McCarthy
Starring:
Carolyn Bracken – Dani Timmins / Darcy Odello
Jonathan French – Declan
Steve Wall – Ivan
Joe Rooney – Bernie
Gwilym Lee – Ted Timmis
Tadhg Murphy – Olin Boole
Caroline Menton – Yana
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated R for some bloody images/gore and language.
Jump scares have a bad rap. The oft-used horror convention tends to be derided as a cheap or lazy way to get the audience to react with fear, as opposed to “earning” it. And sure, there are many films where that’s the case. But an effective jump scare, when used correctly, can be more than just a way to spike an audience’s heart rate – it can be legitimately terrifying.
Damian McCarthy understands that, as his new film Oddity shows. Having screened at Fantasia Fest over the weekend, the supernatural mystery film has plenty of mood and an engaging story, but also knows exactly when to add some panic-inducing jump scares to the mix to create a horror that will stay with you well after the adrenaline has worn off.
Oddity kicks off in the Irish countryside, where Dani (Carolyn Bracken) is renovating the home that she shares with her husband Declan (Jonathan French), a doctor at a local metal institution. With Declan at work, Dani is alone at the house when Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), a patient from the institution, knocks on the door and insists he be let inside. Dani will not survive the night.
A year later, Olin is found murdered in his cell and Declan fulfills a strange request – delivering Olin’s false eye to Dani’s blind twin sister Darcy (Bracken) as a form of closure. Darcy is a medium who collects cursed items, which Declan dismisses as a man of science. He tells Darcy that they should get together sometime to honor Dani’s memory.
However, Declan isn’t prepared when Darcy shows up on with a large box the doorstep of his home – now shared with his new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton). Declan has work, but he permits Darcy to stay in the home since she’s come all the way out there. Darcy proceeds to reveal what’s in the box – a wooden mannequin. And through it, she plans to confirm her suspicion that there is more to her sister’s death than was originally thought.
McCarthy is no stranger to supernatural horror, having made his debut in the genre with 2021’s Caveat. That film was a moody, slow burn single-location affair with an intriguing mystery at the center and a couple of good fright moments. He’s upped his game significantly with Oddity. Most of those same elements are in play here, as he sets nearly all the film at the remote home, takes his time to build up the tension and centers the plot on the mystery of Dani’s death.
While all of that is effective, it’s the scares that truly stand out on McCarthy’s part. He knows how to spring spooks on us remarkably well, often staging the offending image where you don’t expect it to be in the frame to make it even more of a shock. One relatively early scare ranks among the best seen in a horror film in a while.
But he’s also not just relying on the jumps to make the movie work. McCarthy displayed in Caveat that he has quite the talent for working with his space to strong effect, and that stays in rare form with Oddity. The jump scares are momentary without the tension and suspense, all of which he uses in spades. The mood keeps things moving along well after audiences have likely guessed the truth behind Dani’s death. That answer is predictable, but it doesn’t feel like a flaw here because how we get to the truth is far more interesting than the truth itself.
In her double role, Bracken serves as the center of this film and she holds it together well. Dani and Darcy are very different people and while we see far more of the latter than the former, they both stand out as characters. Darcy is prickly, but we still find ourselves wanting to root for her. Jonathan French, who played Isaac in Caveat, does fine work as Declan and Menton is a blast as the poor girlfriend stuck in the middle of it all.
The production design work is fantastic, particularly given the budget in play here. The mannequin is a thing of nightmares but is used sparingly, which makes it all the more effective, the gore equally sparing yet striking. And the geography of the house itself is ingeniously used, particularly for some overhead shots of the main room that gives plenty of negative space to push the anxiety level up.
McCarthy is exploring a few themes here about loss and morality as he plays with the genre and subverts the typical horror notions of supernatural evil. There are elements of folk horror, the haunted house film, and even a touch of The Conjuring motifs in play. It’s an effective mix that McCarthy keeps balanced on a knife’s edge, using all the tricks in the horror toybox to create a genuinely scary movie-watching experience.
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 18th through August 4th.
