Time: 98 Minutes
Cast:
Gwilym Lee as Ted Timmis
Carolyn Bracken as Dani Timmis/Darcy Odello
Tadhg Murphy as Olin Boole
Caroline Menton as Yana
Steve Wall as Ivan
Jonathan French as Declan Barrett
Director: Damian Mc Carthy

I heard about Oddity, an Irish low budget horror film, which some have called one of the scariest movies of the year. I went into it blind and found it to be pleasantly surprising. 

Knowing as little as possible about the movie really helped the experience, so I would recommend watching it this way too. It’s very much a slow build, but is engaging and really benefits from its simplicity and its short runtime of 100 minutes. At a certain point, the eventual reveal becomes a little obvious and easy to figure out, but it’s not too much of an issue, and it concludes with a perfect final shot. 

It is very well performed by its relatively smaller cast. It’s Carolyn Bracken who really shines in the lead role, playing two very different roles, she’s great here. 

Damian Mc Carthy’s direction is very good. The visuals are stunning, the production design is top notch, and the limited locations work to its benefit. It does very well at creating an isolating atmosphere, helped by the unsettling imagery. The scares are effective, there were even a couple of times where it managed to make me jump, and they worked because of the atmosphere and don’t feel cheap. 

Oddity is an atmospheric, unsettling, excellently directed and well performed horror film. Definitely worth watching if you like horror, and worth going into it blind.