Oddity
After her twin sister Dani (Carolyn Bracken) is brutally murdered in the antique courtyard home she’d been afraid to stay in overnight while her husband Dr. Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee, “Bohemian Rhapsody”) worked at a nearby psychiatric hospital, Darcy Odello (also Bracken), the blind owner of a shop of cursed curiosities, is shocked to learn Ted already has a girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton), less than a year later. Darcy arrives at the home and refuses to accept their imminent departures as a reason not to stay and she’s brought along a most unusual gift, a life-sized “Oddity.”
Laura's Review: B
In his sophomore feature, writer/director Damian McCarthy (“Caveat”) puts a supernatural spin on a murder mystery whose amateur detective is a cinematic spiritual sister to the blind seer in “Don’t Look Now” and who runs a store that resembles the Warren’s occult museum (as seen in “The Conjuring” movies). It’s a creepy, twisty ride set in a mood enhancing location that is only marred by (possible spoiler) the protagonist having gifted Darcy with something he should have known would shine a light on the truth, but her gift to him provides a killer of an ending, an actual ‘last laugh.’
I say ‘possible spoiler’ above because I thought the true protagonist of the crime was evident from the get go, but McCarthy does create unease in his opening moments when Dr. Timmis’ former patient Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy, TV’s ‘Time Bandits’), in a half-way house after years of psychiatric commitment for having bludgeoned his mother to death, arrives at the Timmis home warning Dani that while she went out to her car, leaving the house door open, someone slipped in and she is not alone and not safe. The one-eyed man asks to come in, but Dani is dubious and so he agrees to go into the town and alert the authorities, telling her she should stay by the door (this is another bit of convenient plotting as we will learn later he had had far more to tell her and his trip to the authorities is never again mentioned). Dani, who sleeps in a tent as the home is being renovated, goes back to it only to realize too late that there is indeed someone else sharing her space.
When Darcy takes Ted up on an informal invite commemorating the anniversary of Dani’s death, Ted, clear surprised to see her, tells her he’s headed to the hospital and Yana, who also dislikes staying on the property in his absence, is headed into the city, but Darcy won’t be budged, simply stating that she will be quite alright staying there alone. Ted leaves and then Yana cannot find her car keys, leaving her not only with Darcy, but Darcy’s creepy housewarming gift, a full sized, screaming wooden man who somehow moves from his packing crate to a seat at the dining room table. It won’t be the man’s only unexplained move.
Production designer Lauren Kelly and director of photography Colm Hogan use the multi-leveled four halls of the ancient courtyard home to full advantage, suggesting that which we cannot see and teasing views from one floor to the shadowy below. The digital camera Dani had set on a timer is a well-used prop, Yana discovering inconvenient truths, its clicking shutter startling us, its flash of light revealing ghostly horrors. Bracken, her short white blond hair and odd clothing as Darcy distinguishing her from her more practically attired brunette sister, nonetheless is tied to her twin, her eerie manner suggesting Dani’s ghost. There are horrific events happening outside the Timmis home as well, Ted’s orderly Ivan (Steve Wall, “Dune: Part Two”) giving off strange vibes and McCarthy using cutaways of Bernie (Joe Rooney), another psychiatric case whose head is encased in a leather strap mask.
“Oddity” revels in its supernatural trappings, but at its heart it is a murder mystery whose perpetrator just happens to get comeuppance from beyond the grave.
Robin's Review: B
IFC Films releases "Oddity" in theaters on 7/19/24.
