A blind woman attempts to find her twin’s murderer in the fantastic and fantastical horror film Oddity which played as the closing night film of the Fantasia Film Festival 2024.
Clever is the trickiest trick to pull off in any genre. Especially so in horror. One wrong move and it collapses the entire story. That makes Oddity all the more brilliant that the film is equally clever and terrifying. Anchored by a truly great central performance by Carolyn Bracken.
On the eve of her sister’s murder, Darcy (Bracken) arrives at her brother-in-law’s (Gwilym) home with a steamer truck. Darcy by day runs a curiosities shop and by night she’s a powerful medium. After a year she’s still convinced that there was something wrong with the events of her sister’s murder. As her brother-in-law leaves Darcy by herself in his home things begin to get stranger and stranger. Darcy begins to confirm all her suspicions with the aid of the contents of the steamer truck – a wooden mannequin that may be possessed. As the night goes on Darcy realizes that she is not alone and that someone may be trying to stop her attempt to solve her sister’s murder.
Oddity’s secret weapon is the work of actress Carolyn Bracken as both Darcy and Dani. What could have been another in a long line of blind helpless waifs is anything but. Darcy is fully capable and driven understanding there is real darkness but also how to channel it. There’s confidence in the performance that shines through and allows for some of the trickier narrative sections to succeed.
Writer/Director Damian McCarthy has created a lean, mean, piece of horror that’s as much an ode to Giallo as it is of British Haunted House mysteries. Essentially a two-hander the film never feels small or claustrophobic and keeps a narrative drive that few films of this type can sustain which Oddity does very well.
A blind woman attempts to find her twin’s murderer in the fantastic and fantastical horror film Oddity which played as the closing night film of the Fantasia Film Festival 2024.
Clever is the trickiest trick to pull off in any genre. Especially so in horror. One wrong move and it collapses the entire story. That makes Oddity all the more brilliant that the film is equally clever and terrifying. Anchored by a truly great central performance by Carolyn Bracken.
On the eve of her sister’s murder, Darcy (Bracken) arrives at her brother-in-law’s (Gwilym) home with a steamer truck. Darcy by day runs a curiosities shop and by night she’s a powerful medium. After a year she’s still convinced that there was something wrong with the events of her sister’s murder. As her brother-in-law leaves Darcy by herself in his home things begin to get stranger and stranger. Darcy begins to confirm all her suspicions with the aid of the contents of the steamer truck – a wooden mannequin that may be possessed. As the night goes on Darcy realizes that she is not alone and that someone may be trying to stop her attempt to solve her sister’s murder.
Oddity’s secret weapon is the work of actress Carolyn Bracken as both Darcy and Dani. What could have been another in a long line of blind helpless waifs is anything but. Darcy is fully capable and driven understanding there is real darkness but also how to channel it. There’s confidence in the performance that shines through and allows for some of the trickier narrative sections to succeed.
Writer/Director Damian McCarthy has created a lean, mean, piece of horror that’s as much an ode to Giallo as it is of British Haunted House mysteries. Essentially a two-hander the film never feels small or claustrophobic and keeps a narrative drive that few films of this type can sustain which Oddity does very well.
Oddity played Fantasia Film Festival 2024 on August 4th
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