Starring Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French and Steve Wall

Written and directed by Damian McCarthy

Shudder, available now

Dani Odello-Timmis (Carolyn Bracken) is murdered despite the warnings of psychiatric patient Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy) who takes the fall for the killing. One year later Darcy Odello (also Carolyn Bracken) visits her sister’s husband Ted (Gwilym Lee) to find him newly ensconced in the same house with girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton). Ted is adamant that Olin killed Dani. But Darcy, and the mysterious delivery she has sent to the house, have other ideas…

Damian McCarthy’s second full length movie is shot in the same converted barn as his first movie, Caveat. It’s a fascinating location, one that he uses from the start to emphasize fragility and isolation. Dani and Ted ‘camping’ in the building is a striking image and one that embodies both their isolation and the unwanted gentrification that they represent. It’s clever stuff and visually arresting as well as being very inventive. There’s a fantastic scare here involving the tent and a digital camera that’s as minimalist as it is chilling.

What really works here is the central pair of performances from Bracken and Menton. Menton’s work as Yana could very easily have been absolute bog standard horror protagonist fare. Instead she’s a charmingly grounded woman who is very aware of her situation and has no intention of patiently waiting to be a victim. Bracken is flat out stunning as the sisters. So much so I didn’t notice it was her playing both for the first half hour of the movie. Danni is deeply likable, friendly, grounded and doomed. Darcy, with a white bob and psychic abilities, is the point of stillness the entire movie orbits. She’s much more in control than we think, but not as much as she thinks and Bracken’s complex, methodical work is deeply unsettling and impossible to ignore. She’s seething, furious, supernaturally gifted and deeply fallible. She’s one of the best protagonists I’ve seen in a horror movie in years and more than justifies seeing the film all by herself.

All that aside, there are some elements of Oddity people will struggle with. The pace is very measured, the time frame takes a while to sort out and all the performances are in service to that serious, measured tone. Lee has a very hard job here, playing someone who is equal parts caring doctor and dead-eyed potential killer. He does a good job, and the movie never falters, but there are moments here which ask you to be rather more patient than you might want to be. Stick with it, it’s worth it.

Verdict Oddity is a determinedly individualistic, intensely focused story that rewards the time you spend with it and in Carolyn Bracken has a potential breakout star. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart