When You Marry Into a Golem Family

There's a certain kind of new horror film, particularly the kind released on Shudder, that seems to activate the fan community to immediate battle. "It's SO good!" tweets one side, while the exes back with "a waste of time." 

Naturally, these are the movies I feel most compelled to jump into. WHICH SIDE WILL I FALL ON?

Let's see where Oddity lands me.

Quick Plot: Dr. Ted Timmins has moved his wife Dani to an isolated fixer upper where the nearest landmark is the asylum he heads. One evening, with Ted at work, a strange man named Olin sporting one glass eye (and one that's not made of glass, in case that wasn't clear) approaches Dani's door to warn that someone is in the house. Like most sane people, Dani isn't eager to trust the man she (righly) suspects of being her husband's mental patient into her home. But it does seem like there are knocks coming from downstairs...

We don't see what happens just then, but we quickly learn that was a very bad night for Mrs. Timmins. She was found dead, with Olin convicted of her murder and sentenced back to the same asylum where he later met his own brutal death. Ted does the husbandly duty of bringing Olin's glass eye to his twin sister-in-law Darcy, a blind clairvoyant with poor social skills. She takes him up on his polite, poorly defined invitation for dinner by showing up at his home on the anniversary of Dani's death. 

It's the kind of day that would normally be reserved for remembrance, but Ted has moved on and his new girlfriend Yana moved in. Darcy ignores the not-so-obvious social cues and insists on staying the night, even though Ted has to go back to work. Yana's keys have mysteriously disappeared just as Darcy's special delivery arrived so it's ladies night at the murder house.

Well, there is the golem. 

Yana is hardly the most likable woman in Ireland, but anyone can sympathize with the horrors of entertaining a kooky psychic sister of your boyfriend's dead wife lugging a human-sized wooden man with holes in his lead full of blood vials and teeth. I won't go too much further in detailing the story of Oddity, but it progresses in both strange and shockingly normal ways. 

Written and directed by Caveat's Damian McCarthy, Oddity is a sharply made genre film that looks and sounds quite good. Ted's asylum is hauntingly lit, while the strangely laid out country home always feels slightly wrong. The performances are top notch and the score keeps the mood just right.

So which team did that put me on? Like many a polarizing new horror film, I find myself ultimately sitting on the sidelines. Oddity is good. It's a story that feels somewhat new, but quickly becomes a bit predictable, right down to the final shot. I don't know where else it really could have gone, but there was something missing by the time I reached the end. It's possible that I was too intrigued by Carolyn Bracken's Darcy and simply wanted more. Made for a low budget, Oddity is the kind of film that certainly makes me say, "can't wait to see what this guy can do with more resources." I guess I hope those include something more ambitious?

High Points

As much as I may be complaining about the smallness of Oddity, there is a very impressive tightness to the storytelling. By the time you reach the end, you realize that virtually EVERY piece of it --both physical props and throwaway lines of dialogue -- had some kind of meaning to tie everything together. You know what? I think I liked this movie more than I first thought

Low Points

While I like where Oddity takes Yancy in the end, I do find myself wanting a little more. Then again, I've said that about all the women in this film so maybe that was one of the keys I found missing 

Lessons Learned

Who needs security cameras when you can curse your inventory?

The more poorly run an asylum, the less questions asked

Always keep a charcuterie board ready, even (or especially) if you live in a remote with few chances of visitors

Rent/Bury/Buy

I liked Oddity, but definitely wanted more out of that. That being said, as I sit back and reflect on it, I'm realizing that McCarthy is a very skillful filmmaker. I'll certainly check out Caveat one of these days, and keep an eye on his future.