So my notable watches from last weekend start with the good...
Oddity is weird and off-beat, but it's a genuine haunted house movie that doesn't shy away from creepy cursed objects, ghostly apparitions, and psychic twin connections. The fact that it's straight horror with a lot of classic trappings makes it a unique horror on my 2024 horror-list.
Summary:
A psychic medium attempts to uncover the truth behind her sister's murder at the site of the crime.
I kinda love that this synopsis gives you so little to work with. The movie starts with a messed up situation, and then we spend the rest of the movie following a medium as she pokes and prods at the story of what happened that night. There are only a handful of characters, and they're very black and white, but it feeds into the neo-gothic atmosphere.
On scare-factor, I REALLY wish that I'd seen the movie in theater. The house is an incredible atmosphere, the sounds are effective, and the scares are well set up. It's got jump scares, but they're not forced. It has creepy tension, but it's never so slow that it just relies on being creepy.
But the plot is flimsy. I think the movie is hurt by having an MC that knows way more than the viewer from basically the outset. It makes the unraveling of the story feel less impactful. The vanilla characters aren't in here to evolve or develop. The actors do a great job, though, and the simplicity of everything lets them set up great scares and ambience.
Bottomline:
I'm checking this off for my favorite horror movie of the year so far. I was looking back on the year, and the only movies I've rewatched from this year are Late Night with the Devil, the First Omen, and Immaculate...but Oddity feels like a classic haunted house gothic mystery modernized, and with an Irish twist. It's proof that GOOD SCARES MAKE GOOD HORROR MOVIES! You don't need complicated plots or major twists...just make it tense and scary, and you've already won.
8 outta 10, I'm already ready to rewatch this on the first stormy night I get. I think people will probably rate some 2024 horrors above this one, but it's my favorite so far.
Quick sidenote if you liked Oddity:
If you liked Oddity, watch Caveat...it's even weirder, and didn't have as much budget, but it matches the tone well and there's an easter egg in the cursed object menagerie that calls back to Caveat.