‘Oddity’ Review: Jump Scares Leave a Lasting Impression in Effective (Yet Funny) Haunted-House Horror
In the first minutes of “Oddity,” a woman is faced with an impossible choice. She is home alone while her doctor husband works the night shift at a psychiatric hospital. A strange man missing an eye shows up at her door. He claims not to be a threat and informs the resident that someone else, who is trying to hurt her, is already inside the large and isolated home. Should she open the door for this figure or ignore his warning? The nerve-racking scenario takes hold of one’s anxieties and sets the tone for an unsettling ride, which IFC will release theatrically before the film streams on Shudder.
Exactly what happens next and why won’t be revealed right away, since Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy deliberately jumbles the timeline of events in his effectively frightening and unexpectedly droll haunted-house horror. Fast-forward a few months and Ted (Gwilym Lee), the aforementioned medical professional, tacitly discloses that his wife Dani (Carolyn Bracken) was the person murdered in the aftermath of the opening sequence.
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That much is clear from Ted’s casual visit to the oddities shop run by Dani’s blind twin sister, Darcy (also Bracken in a dual role). A self-proclaimed medium, Darcy claims to be able to learn about those who are gone by touching an object that belonged to them — something that came in contact with their skin works best. Darcy winces at hearing that Ted already has a new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton), a former co-worker who refuses to spend more nights alone in the location where the homicide took place.
Suspicious, Darcy shows up unannounced at Ted’s estate. She brings along a disturbing wooden mannequin, akin to a mummy — a gift that previously belonged to the twins’ parents. However, “Oddity” falters in how underdeveloped it leaves the mythology surrounding this bizarre object, and the keepsakes it holds inside the holes in its head. The prop itself evokes the image of a tortured soul from purgatory, and eventually it assumes a prominent place in the plot, yet McCarthy can’t decide whether to keeps its origin entirely vague or fully engage with it. He teases its major significance for Darcy but doesn’t make us privy to the secrets it guards.
Interestingly, McCarthy pits human evil against supernatural retribution, essentially suggesting that if spirits from the beyond bother to return to our plane of existence, it’s only to settle unfinished business with those who’ve wronged them here. Still, despite the solemn otherworldly concept, splashes of humor abound, especially in the uncomfortable interactions between Yana and Darcy. Bracken successfully straddles the prickly tonal line between unsettling seriousness and flippant sarcasm as the resolute Darcy harnesses her connection to the dead to elucidate the truth about what happened to her beloved Dani.
But as the night unfolds, “Oddity” enters terrifying territory full throttle. McCarthy and editor Brian Philip Davis deploy high-voltage moments with expert timing, using the dark to their favor in refreshing fashion. A sequence involving a specter inside the home and a camera’s shutter sound — a callback to a crucial earlier scene — surpasses the short-lived anxiety of your typical jump scare. The moment is so effective, it may even prompt some viewers to keep the light on at home just to be on the safe side. As villainous as Steve Wall appears playing Ted’s orderly Ivan, even he is no match for the resident ghost.
Set almost entirely in one location — Ted and Dina’s now cursed house — “Oddity” makes full use of the ancient residence’s peculiar geography. The layout features two sets of stairs that frame the dining room, one of which leads to the main room upstairs. Cinematographer Colm Hogan shoots these wooden steps inventively in more than one occasion, whether during a horrifying chase or as Yana contemplates the wooden figure from above. There’s also a conspicuous and clearly dangerous trap door, or the fact that the only working bathroom is downstairs, which forces Yana to leave the perceived safety of her room. The location’s unusual layout always feels crucial to the narrative.
Right up to its final shot, which is as amusing as it’s reassuring that the real perpetrator of Dani’s death won’t get away with their crime, “Oddity” toys with some of the characters’ skepticism about what exists beyond this world. However, it’s clear that, at least in the reality of this movie, there’s no doubt souls on the other side await to be summoned.
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