Move over, Longlegs.
A new Irish movie that has been dubbed “the scariest film of the year hands down” is now available to watch at home.
Streaming on Shudder from today (Friday, 27 September), that horror thriller is titled Oddity and hails from Cork based writer-director Damien Mc Carthy, whose debut feature Caveat creeped us out back in 2020.
The plot synopsis for the filmmaker’s latest movie reads:
“When Dani (Carolyn Bracken, The Quiet Girl) is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted (Gwilym Lee, Bohemian Rhapsody) are renovating, everyone suspects a patient from the local mental health institution, where Ted is a doctor. However, soon after the tragic killing, the suspect is found dead.
“A year later, Dani’s blind twin sister Darcy (also Bracken), a self-proclaimed psychic and collector of cursed items, pays an unexpected visit to Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton). Convinced that there was more to her sister’s murder than people know, Darcy has brought with her the most dangerous items from her cursed collection to help her exact revenge.”
As you may have guessed from the header image of this article, one of Darcy’s cursed items is a creepy life-sized wooden mannequin.
Also featuring amongst its cast, Joe Rooney (Father Ted), Steve Wall (Dune: Part Two) and Tadhg Murphy (The Northman), Oddity was released in Irish cinemas on 30 August just last month.
And so far, it has earned a whopping 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Its claustrophobic setting, its inventive story structure and its unnerving atmosphere have been singled out for particular praise.
Many viewers have even taken to social media to dub Oddity one of the best horrors of the year, if not the best.
You can read a handful of these Tweets right here:
Oddity is THE scariest film of the year hands down. I screamed so loudly during one sequence… I didn’t even know a horror movie could still illicit that kinda reaction out of me still! Absolutely terrifying I loved it so much
— Shawn (@ShawnMansfield) July 19, 2024
You won't find a better horror movie this year than Oddity. Don't watch a trailer. Don't read a synopsis. Book your tickets. https://t.co/frFJRpPt85
— Will (@SilentDawnLB) July 19, 2024
Great to see Oddity getting some well earned praise. Legitimately one of the scariest horror films of the year that does an excellent job of creeping under the skin pic.twitter.com/mMbQ4UCRyO
— Matt Konopka (@KillerCritics) July 22, 2024
Oddity has some of the best jumpscares in a while and they never get old. Actually freaked me out a lot very effectively. It’s not cheap either, it’s got a very cool and consistent tone of dread from the very beginning. So cool and simple. Maybe horror of the year so far.
— joe bro (@jbromovies) July 23, 2024
I am super psyched at Longlegs’s surprise success. If you’re still in the horror mood, I strongly suggest Oddity, which is out this weekend. Currently my favorite genre movie of the year. Supernatural revenge flick and that’s all you need to know going in.
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) July 19, 2024
You can also read a sample of some of the raves from critics for Oddity below:
AV Club: “A ferociously entertaining, beautifully orchestrated thrill ride that’s exactly the kind of horror movie you want to watch with a crowd.”
AWFJ.org: “While the story of Oddity is a fascinating one, it is less the tale itself than the particular way McCarthy chooses to tell it that renders it one of the year’s best horror movies.”
IGN Movies: “Irish director Damian Mc Carthy shows great skill in creating uncanny atmosphere with an elegantly constructed tale that combines supernatural chills and violent revenge in the EC Comics tradition.”
Mashable: “Atmospheric and unpredictable, Oddity is a rare treasure.”
Wall Street Journal: “Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to put his name on this lean and unsettling thriller, and it’s a triumph for its relatively new writer-director, Ireland’s Damian McCarthy.”
Oddity is available to watch on the horror streaming service Shudder now in the UK, Ireland and the US.
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