Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival 2024 – Irish director Damian Mc Carthy really made a name for himself with his 2020 debut Caveat. Who can forget that creepy bunny? His follow-up, Oddity, has all the makings of a classic Gothic story. It kicks off with a murder, before introducing several unsettling images and a major grisly secret that refuses to stay buried. Oddity is a strong second feature, which, like Caveat, has some unnerving moments.

Gwilym Lee stars as Ted Timmis, a doctor who works at a local psychiatric hospital. He’s recently widowed not long after he and his wife, Dani (Carolyn Bracken), move into a massive fixer-upper that just feels like it harbors quite a past and more than its share of secrets. Dani’s sister, Darcy, also played by Bracken, is convinced that something doesn’t add up regarding her beloved’s sister’s murder. There’s also the fact that Ted quickly moves on and lands a new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton).

Meanwhile, Darcy is a medium of sorts who understands the power that objects have. In fact, she gifts Ted a creepy wooden mannequin that steals every scene that it’s in, comparable to the bunny in Caveat, which also makes a brief appearance in Darcy’s shop of oddities and haunted objects. It’s a cool Easter egg.

Oddity works on a few different levels. It is, in part, a murder mystery. It’s clear almost from the outset that someone other than the prime suspect, one of Ted’s patients, murdered Dani. Mc Carthy withholds the true nature of her death until the last act, and it’s worth the wait. Yet, this feature also very much feels like a Gothic story, trafficking in the standard motifs and tropes that were established in the 19th Century by writers like Poe, Hawthorne, and Shelley. The house itself feels like a character, with groaning floorboards and shadowy hallways. Then there’s the wooden mannequin that’s often posed at the dinner table, for whatever reason. Mc Carthy frequently zooms in on its uncanny face and these make for some truly hair-raising sequences. That thing is pure nightmare fuel. Yana, for instance, is petrified of the object, and who can blame her?

There’s also a level of science versus the paranormal that’s another trait of the Gothic genre, such as Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House or Richard Matheson’s Hell House. In a few scenes, Ted, who fashions himself a man of science, squares off with Darcy. She’s quite a formidable intellectual opponent who believes in the power of objects to summon spirits, and there’s more than once instance where ghosts show up attached to said objects, including a bell that she holds close. The ghosts add some decent jump scares, and Bracken turns in one heck of a dual performance.

Overall, Mc Carthy’s second feature spins a tale revolving around a murder and ghosts. Yet, the film could have gone a little bit harder and too often feels restrained. Still, as a whole, Oddity is a chilling second film from one of the genre’s most exiting directors. While Caveat had the frightening bunny, Oddity has a terrifying wooden mannequin that’s equally as disturbing. This film certainly uses the power of objects to conjure a good scare. This is one suspenseful haunted house film.

7 Out of 10