Oddity

After her twin sister is murdered in her own house, Darcy, a blind medium who runs a curio shop, comes to that house to work the case herself. Her only assistant is a life-sized wooden man taken from her collection. Damian McCarthy shot it in Ireland, in the same converted barn in County Cork he had used for his first film, Caveat. Effects artist Paul McDonnell built the life-sized wooden golem. McCarthy named his reference openly: old doll-comes-to-life films, and he wanted something his own size that would be a force to reckon with. It premiered at South by Southwest on 8 March 2024 and won the Audience Award in the Midnighter section, followed by the Audience Award for Feature Film at the Overlook Film Festival in April 2024. Rotten Tomatoes has 96 percent of 132 reviews positive with an average of 7.5, and Metacritic sits at 78 from 18 critics. It opened in the United States on 19 July 2024 and in Ireland and the UK on 30 August 2024, grossing 1.9 million dollars worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who like tension built in one location with practical horror rather than digital effects. Who it is not for: anyone wanting frequent jump scares. The film asks for patience toward three or four moments, and it is very slow until they arrive.