Oddity

Even though I'm not usually a fan of horror movies, I went to a movie festival and watched Oddity. I was impressed by the quality of the scenes, the location and the chosen frames were good (and effective, because it was scary). I also liked how the actors played their role. The connection between the sisters was well presented and the husband played quite well the role of a very rational man.

The story, however, was a little bit predictable. By the end of the first half of the movie I already assumed who the murderer was and what was going to happen next.

It is a pretty good movie to watch. :)

This film does a lot of things right. While there's a jump scare or two, the fear mostly consists of atmosphere and situations that would easily scare anyone in a similar setting. That's the right way to do horror, with the idea of something inspiring dread as opposed to cheap reaction scares that are only effective due to loud noises. It even starts out with an impossible decision that effortlessly hooks you in. Additionally, there's always something to focus on that consistently engages the audience. Shown, not immediately explained. Seen and not described. This results in mystery and guesswork that will keep you interested throughout. All in all an entertaining film, and the acting skill displayed by the entire cast is competent and fitting.

I only have two complaints. The first is that the motivation of some characters are basically nonsensical. It could be argued these people are essentially psychopaths, but even so their choices are far too extreme to be believed. Absolutely ridiculous. The second is the ending scene. I can't elaborate without spoilers, but while the concept is very cool, the execution was pretty weak. None of this ruined my overall enjoyment of the film, but there is no lasting impression because of it, which is a shame.

For anyone that watches a lot of horror, you'll know how difficult it is to scare audiences today. This film got me. It's definitely without a doubt one of the scariest and most original indie horror films to come out in 2024. Oddity managed to tell what feels like a big story in really just a few locations. I can't imagine the budget was too big, and sometimes it felt low budget, but in my opinion, this only made it scarier. For some reason I always feel like big budget horror movies don't serve the scares as successfully because there's something comforting about the studio polish. This film had an indie grit and the jump scares were SO EFFECTIVE. I don't jump easily but this got me several times. And the story is also captivating. Highly recommend, especially for horror lovers!

This is a nicely crafted blend of story, dialogue and cinematography. Not so much for the ghostly effects but it's ok. I'd rather have a cleverly written story with so-so special effects than a triple A cgi title with no substance these days.

This feels more of a mish-mash of drama and murder mystery than horror. Some of the props do look creepy and unnerving and they work well to push through the story. Don't expect a lot of jumpscares, there's not a lot which is a good thing. It's all about the atmosphere.

All in all I can't find much faults except for the cheap-ish sfx and costumes, but that's only for a few seconds of the movie anyway. What matters here is the mystery to solve. Great popcorn movie.

Over the years, I've almost given up on horror films. Most are essentially comedies to me, without meaning to be. It's rare that I even get an uneasy feeling and watching any movie, but this one succeeded in doing that.

The acting was good and while it was essentially filmed low budget, it didn't feel that way. Carolyn Bracken did an amazing job within her roles and I would like to see more from her in the future.

It was a relatively simple film and of course had plot holes and points that made no sense... But even after that, it was definitely worth the watch. I do wish they would have removed the last scene from the movie though. It was not needed and only detracted from the positives.