Thanks to the recent release of the critically acclaimed Longlegs starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, horror is back in the spotlight, and the upcoming creepy doll movie Oddity could be the genre’s next big hit. Featuring all the ingredients needed for a terrifying trip to the movies, including a blind medium, a mysterious cabinet of curiosities, and an eerie wooden mannequin, Oddity now has a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and could very well be the perfect successor to director Osgood Perkins’ serial killer thriller.
Patrick Cavanaugh of ComicBook.com awards Oddity a near-perfect 4/5, and heaps praise on director Damian Mc Carthy and his ability to keep the audience guessing throughout.
“Filmmaker Damian Mc Carthy demonstrates his ambition and confidence in genre storytelling, delivering a number of different tones of terror throughout the entire film, as we never know what will happen next.”
Chris Evangelista of Slashfilm, meanwhile, promises that Odditywill not disappoint horror aficionados and “knows exactly how to scare you.”
“Oddity knows exactly how to scare you, and that’s no easy feat. Here is a creepy, effective, spooky tale told just right; like a good ghost story, it lingers with you once you’ve turned off the lights for the night and let the dark seep in. And then you might hear a strange sound somewhere in all that darkness, and your blood will run cold. This is the stuff that good horror is made of, and Oddity is one of the best horror movies of the year.”
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Nick Schager of Daily Beast also assures horror fans that Oddity is very “adept at rattling the nerves,” and says “If “Longlegs” has you craving more unsettling thrills this summer, check out “Oddity,” a stunning—and scary-as-hell—new horror film from Damian Mc Carthy.”
“Nonetheless, his maiden directorial effort prioritizes unreal atmosphere and, in particular, the unseen forces that bind us to others—whether they’re living, dead, or something else entirely. It may exist in a familiar macabre universe of ghostly faces, puppet masters, menacing pawns, and vengeful spirits intent on punishing those who did them wrong, but what makes Oddity so pleasurably peculiar is its excellent use of those conventions for heart-stopping frights.”
Oddity Promises Has Been Called a ‘Must-Watch’ Horror Flick
Collider’s Chase Hutchinson also teases surprises in store for those who dare to watch Oddity. Having seen the movie earlier this year at SXSW, they described the horror outing as “genuinely scary as it is darkly funny.”
“Remaining aware of genre enough to playfully skewer it just as it manages to be truly terrifying in an almost classical sense, it is the type of film that grows on you. When the bottom drops out from under it, you feel every moment of the fall.”
Finally, Tessa Smith of Mama’s Geeky calls the movie “predictable” but no less “a must watch horror,” and heaps praise on the central creepy nightmare fuel that is the wooden doll.
“Thanks to incredible performances, and eerie score, and a suspenseful story line, Oddity is an unsettling film – but in a good way. In a way that horror fans will truly appreciate. The wooden man is terrifying and will surely haunt the dreams of many viewers.”
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Written and directed by Damian Mc Carthy, Oddity stars Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, and Jonathan French. You can check out the official synopsis for the horror outing below.
“When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted 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, a self-proclaimed psychic and collector of cursed items, pays an unexpected visit to Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana. 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.”
Oddity
is due to be released in the United States on July 19, 2024, and will also play as part of this month’s Fantasia International Film Festival. You can check out the trailer for this must-watch horror movie below.