Oddity - Damian McCarthy - 2024
★★★★-Oddity. A film that definitively answers the question of what happens when you put Hannibal Lector in a room with a with delicious looking toes. Day 3 of the Nightmare on Film Street 31 Days of Halloween Horror Challenge. Revenge night. I thought it was better than good but sort of forgettable. I’m a sucker for a cursed object horror flick. This one features a golem type monster that is truly horrific looking. Made of wood instead of clay. Basically, your run-of-the-mill cheap thrill on Shudder, except really well done.
Gist is Ted, a doctor at a psychiatric hospital, is dealing with the mysterious death of his wife Dani. She dies alone in their new country house at the hands of one of his patients. One day her twin sister Darcy shows up at the house, where Ted now lives with new fiancé Yana, with an extremely unsettling haunted wooden mannequin.
The victim’s sister gives this thing to them as a gift. The couple is sort of like, uh, thanks. When the new gal starts poking around and finds something in the golem’s mouth. The former sister in-law freaks, shrieking at her to “put it back.” Um, excuse me, but you gave me this creepy shit.
Directed by Damian McCarthy. Only his second film. His previous flick, Caveat, is in this same lane, and is also effectively terrifying. He’s got a solid style. I’ll definitely watch his films going forward.
Stars Gwilym Lee as the husband doing some Chekov's bell shit. He's something of a poor man's Joseph Fiennes. Only thing I’ve seen him in is the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. He played legendary guitarist/cool guy Brian May. Star from Caveat Jonathan French shows up as a psychopath. Never seen any of the other actors, but they are all fantastic, as are their characters. One Carolyn Bracken plays both the sisters. She wins the movie. New fiancé Yana is played by Caroline Menton. Guy named Tadhg Murphy plays the googly eyed mental patient.
Interesting supernatural elements and lots of psychological tension. The mannequin really gets under your skin as it sits there, looking absolutely terrifying. You know some shit is going to go down with that thing. Movie gets pretty chilling in that sense. I actually let out a little scream at one point. But it veers back into cliché nonsense with a twist you see coming a mile away. It’s still fucked up and disturbing. A very good film, but not quite an instant classic. But close.
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