Director: Damian Mc Carthy
Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, Steve Wall
Screenplay: Damian Mc Carthy
98 mins. Rated R for some bloody images/gore and language.

At this point in the year 2024, we need to stop underestimating the partnership of IFC Films and Shudder. Following the terrific successes of Late Night with the Devil and In a Violent Nature, another hit theatrical release has landed on Shudder. I saw it once in theaters, and then again on the streaming service, and yes, Oddity is absolutely one of the best atmospheric horrors of the year.

When Dani (Carolyn Bracken, The Quiet Girl) is slain, supposedly by one of her husband’s escaped patients, her twin sister suspects something else is afoot. One year later, she goes to the home her sister had purchased with husband Ted (Gwilyn Lee, Bohemian Rhapsody) with a few items from the Curiosities Shoppe she owns and operates, hoping to use these items as tools to solve the murder.

What’s so fascinating about Oddity is how simple and straightforward its narrative is, bolstered by some terrific mood and some of the best atmosphere you’re likely to find this year. While it’s definitely a slow-burn story, the characters are boldly written and identified, with motivations that match their initial descriptions as they are merely allowed to play out their individual hands to the logical conclusion. There are surprises in store, but none of that really matters. Oddity is simply as its title describes. It’s a strange film with a number of interesting flourishes hiding in plain sight.

The wooden man is one of those flourishes. Seemingly based in part on the mythology of the golem, it’s a creepy prop that takes over the entirety of the focus of the camera. I kept watching it in any given frame where it makes even a slight appearance.

Oddity operates in much the same way as a play: minimal sets and characters, all driving the story through logical but fascinating choices all derived from the individual motivations that feel realistic and understandable. Dani’s twin, Darcy, simply wants to solve the murder of her sister, seemingly the only person not happy with the explanation as given, and though we understand her motivation, she makes some less-than-likable choices of her own. We understand Ted wanting to move forward with his life, and yet, we cannot understand his complicated feelings toward the possibility of his patient’s actions.

Oddity is terrific, and it works because it’s all character-driven story and atmosphere-driven visuals, culminating in an ending that is, while simple and in some ways expected, still very successful and exciting, and a final stinger that is worthy of a Tales from the Crypt episode. See Oddity before it gets spoiled, but even if it does, the movie is so worth your time all the same.

3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe