Oddity
While not many viewers have heard of one of 2024 ’s great repulsion hide muffin , Mike Flanaganis right to spotlight the Irish indieOddityas one of the year ’s highlights . It might seem hard to believe when there is an entire ticket ofupcoming Mike Flanagan TV show and movieson the elbow room , but there was a time when the literary genre fable was an unsung indie conductor . Before the breakout succeeder of his 2018 Netflix seriesThe Haunting of Hill Housemade him a major name in Hollywood revulsion , Flanagan was best know for smaller horror movies likeOculus , Before I Wake , andHush .
The paranormal and the horror mix together in Oddity , creating an authentically tomentum - raise experience that is as unsettling as it is terrifying .
Before that , Flanagan was 2011 ’s helmer of the under - seen indie horrorAbsentia . Long beforehis Stephen King adaptation earned Oscar bombilation , Flanagan was once a minor indie movie maker struggling to get his name out there . As such , it is no surprisal that the theater director continue to promote the work of smaller horror director online . In 2022 , Flanagan called the sleeper hitTerrifier 2“Ambitious " and " touch ” while , in 2024 , he spotlighted the low-down - budget psychological thrillerFirst Time Caller . More late , Flanagan called attending to a repugnance that shares a little more in coarse with his back catalogue .
Oddity Is One Of Mike Flanagan’s Favorite 2024 Horror Movies
Director Damian McCarthy’s Irish Indie Horror Is Streaming On Shudder
On hisLetterboxdaccount , Flanagan call director Damian McCarthy ’s soph featureOddity“A masterclass in apprehension , atmosphere , and tension . ” Not only is the writer - conductor right on the money with this verbal description , butOddityhas also stick a lot in common with Flanagan ’s own work . As such , the Irish indie horror is uniquely well suited to buff of the director ’s prodigious output . LikeFlanagan’sThe downslope of the House of Usher , the acclaimedOddityhas a streak of auction pitch - black humor that runs through the film ’s grim , gory story of retaliation , lost love , and deeply screw - up family dynamic .
Oddityopens on a woman , Dani , renovating a remote household alone . When a stranger knock on her door at night and warns her that he saw someone nobble deep down , she is caught between a rock and a hard office . diffident who to bank , the heroine relieve oneself an inconceivable decision . A year later , on the anniversary of her death , her sis and her husband share a tense reunification in the same house . The eponymous oddity , brought by the movie ’s unsighted , antiques - dealing heroine , fare into play as the tardy womanhood ’s sister attempt the Sojourner Truth about the outcome of that fateful Nox , no matter what the toll .
What Made Oddity Stand Out For Mike Flanagan
The Horror Movie Blends Supernatural Elements And Murder Mystery
Flanagan ’s review is full of kudos for McCarthy ’s commission , callingOddity“Engrossing ” and “ Terrifying . ” The managing director perish on to praise McCarthy ’s earlierCaveat , suppose that his second movie reassert “ McCarthy is the real deal . ”Flanagan ’s praise aligns with what many commentator have say about the critically adoredOddity , with McCarthy ’s movie realise an average decisive rating of 95 % on Rotten Tomatoes . Much likeFlanagan’sThe Haunting of Hill HouseandThe Haunting of Bly Manor , Odditymakes clever use of negative space in its framing . Viewers are never quite sure that a room is as empty as it seems .
Not only is there always the unsettling possibility of a specter popping up soundlessly in the corner of a frame , butOddityalso has its titular brat to worry viewers . A wooden sculpture that is ostensibly meant to look like a human , the howling artifact endure a close resemblance to Stan Winston ’s iconic Pumpkinhead . The wooden sculpture might be firm , but it is intemperate not to constantly expect the quirkiness to move by itself , and viewers will get hold themselves obsessively checking whether its position moved subtly while it was off - screen . All this in effect masks the flick ’s existent drama .
Oddity Is Reminiscent Of Mike Flanagan’s Work
The Horror Movie Borrows From Oculus And The Haunting of Bly Manor
Like Flanagan ’s best work , Oddityblends tragic sept drama with supernatural horror . From her introduction , Carolyn Bracken ’s tortured Darcy Odello is a duty tour First State power . The turbulent passee dealer ca n’t rest until she solves the closed book of her baby Dani ’s brutal murder , but she is all too aware that returning to the fit of the crime couch her in danger . Gwilym Lee ’s Ted is no help , with Dani ’s widowman hoping to get over the loss as quickly as potential and obstinately trying to ignore all of Darcy ’s extrasensory theory . The conflict between Ted and Darcy is particularly resonant of Flanagan ’s oeuvre .
Midnight Mass and Oddity end in very different place , but both stories thoughtfully play with themes of hunch and grounds .
In theStephen King - influencedMidnight Mass , Flanagan delved deep into interrogation of science and faith as characters debated over belief and corruption . Here , Ted and Darcy ’s divergent worldviews shape their various persona arcs , as Darcy insist on bring out the saturnine profundity lurk beneath sensing while Ted arrogantly refuses to acknowledge anything beyond the noetic and evident . Suffice it to say thatMidnight MassandOddityend in very different places , but both history thoughtfully play with theme of suspicion and evidence and leap between both linear perspective without making their champion and villains forthwith obvious to the viewer early on .
Oddity Keeps A Great Recent Horror Trend Alive
Irish Horror Movies Have Enjoyed Major Global Success Recently
oddness ’s critical success is famous , and its Shudder liberation is a brilliant accomplishment for McCarthy , but the movie is also the late in a cosmic string of international successes for Irish repugnance filmmaker . As far back as 2015’sThe Hallowand 2012’sGrabbers , Irish repugnance movies have encounter external aid . From 2021’sYou Are Not My Motherto 2024’sFrewakato 2023’sAll You involve Is Death , Irish repugnance picture show are enjoying a cultural moment andOddityis the late collide with to reassert this vogue . Impressively , this trend runs the gamut in term of note .
Oddityis currently available to stream on Shudder .
2016’sA Dark Songis a similarly reserved chamber musical composition , while 2019’sExtra Ordinaryis a ribald , zany repugnance comedy . 2019’sThe Hole In The Groundis an efficaciously unsettling call up card forEvil Dead Risedirector Lee Cronin , while 2020’sBoys From County Hellis a far silly , albeit equally gruesome , thing . Irish horror movie manage to bounce from serious chill to self - aware humor without missing a beat , something evenOddityboasts in its more playful moments . As such , it is no surprisal thatMike Flanagancited the indie hitOddityas one of the year ’s strongest repugnance movies .
Image via IFC Films
reservoir : Letterboxd
Image via IFC Films
