Summary

• Oddity explores deep fears surrounding death, using ambiguous settings and a unique story concept.
• The film features interconnected characters and a mysterious mannequin, creating an eerie atmosphere.
• Filmmaker Damian McCarthy drew inspiration from his childhood love of horror films for Oddity.

A film that spans the various subgenres of horror, Oddity made its debut last week at the 2024 South by Southwest Festival. Born of a childhood love of horror films fed by parents who owned a video rental store in Ireland, Writer and director Damian McCarthy wanted to tell a story about someone who feared what comes after death more than dying itself. Wanting to lend to the unease that comes from horror itself, he made the setting of the film as ambiguous as possible. Oddity stars Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, and Steve Wall.

One year ago Darcy's (Bracken) twin sister, Dani (also Bracken), was brutally murdered in a remote country house she owned with her husband, Ted (Lee). At the time the prime suspect is a patient at the mental health institution where Ted is a doctor, but then that suspect is also found dead. Ted moves on with Yana (Menton) and is surprised when his blind and self-proclaimed psychic sister-in-law makes an unexpected visit. Darcy is convinced that there are hidden secrets behind her sister's death and is determined to uncover them with the help of an unexpected assistant. Together with the help of this frightening wooden mannequin, Darcy will enact revenge on the real culprit behind Dani's murder.

Screen Rant spoke with filmmaker McCarthy, and stars Lee and Bracken after Oddity made its premiere at SXSW. McCarthy discussed the genesis of the film, while Lee and Bracken delved into the process of finding the characters at the heart of the film

Oddity Is Full Of Fascinating Character Work

Screen Rant: To begin with, Damian, I would love to know where the idea of the Oddity came from?

Damian McCarthy: It was just a lot of different ideas that I had, but there was never really [one]. It never really felt like a full feature that you'd get out of all of them. S,o it became a case of, "Well, this is a really good idea," or at least I thought it was a good idea. And I just found a way to weave these ideas throughout one story, build them around these characters, build them around this idea of this wooden mannequin coming to life through witchcraft, and that's it. Yeah, that's the real start of it.

Carolyn, you play two characters who are interconnected. Aside from the obvious difference between them, what is your way into each?

Carolyn Bracken: Well, I suppose it's a multitude of factors, isn't it? It's the script. It's the costume design. It's the hair and makeup. It's the production design. It's all those worlds coming together to help inform the performer. And they all came at different parts of the prep. And with the script, Damien did create two very different characters, so it was just about finding the broad and the fine strokes of both Dani and Darcy, finding their similarities as sisters, but as well as their differences.

Damian McCarthy: We went back and forth sometimes in one day.

Carolyn Bracken: Yeah, yeah. There was a time where Dani was first, then Darcy, and then Ghost Dani

Gwilym, we meet Ted when he's in mourning, and that mourning is called into question by Darcy. Yet we are rooting for you throughout. What is the secret to playing such an affable character so suspiciously?

Gwilym Lee: I'm really glad to hear you say that you're rooting. For me, that was the intention. That was our hope, was that we don't give too much away. It was always trying to play the reality of what he's doing and what he does and what he's scheming and planning, plotting, but without showing any of that. So, that's great you thought that.

I guess it was trying to get into the logic of the man. He's like a ridiculous sense of superiority, delusions of grandeur, awful narcissist. Obviously, none of those traits I have myself. It was just trying to find the logic of that character and really commit to it.

Damian, this was your second feature film. Your first one, Caveat, was very well received. Did that make the process of making this much easier? Or is it having to top yourself, getting more ambitious?

Damian McCarthy: It was a much easier film to make than Caveat, for sure. Caveat was a zero-budget movie. It took years to make. It was years of just asking for favors and trying to do it. So by no means was this the difficult second album. It was much smoother. Just in terms of it being compared or worrying will it stand up?

Of course, Caveat's been out a few years now, and I see that it does have a little bit of a cult following. You can see more people talking about it, which is fantastic. Of course, I'd be a little bit nervous that this would be compared. "Oh, it's not as good as the first real indie movie." But just the reaction here at South By Southwest has been amazing. It's brilliant, so I'm really happy.

And what's nice as well is I think people will go back now, and I've seen a few people talking about it, just that they'll go back and are curious about Caveat. I'd be the same if I saw somebody's feature of like, "Oh, I wonder what else they've done." So, I am very happy today.

Oddity's Mannequin Is Just One Of Its Eccentricities

Carolyn, you have a lot of scenes with the mannequin. What is that experience like on set? How does it move? Share all the secrets.

Carolyn Bracken: On set and out of character, the initial response when he arrived was a bit shocking. It was a bit, "Christ." And then everybody, we just got used to him being around. He just became this addition to the crew. You know what I mean? There'd be dozens of crew and all of us just meandering and operating around him, and he was just this solid fixture who was there. But I suppose with the character of Darcy, there's a very, very strange and intimate connection between her and this apparently inanimate object that is very powerful.

Gwilym Lee: And he's come out here with us. He's part of the family. He's traveled out to Austin.

Carolyn Bracken: Couldn't leave him behind.

Gwilym, on the other hand, you get a lot of creepy scenes in the asylum where you're almost the straight man to a string of even more menacing beings than yourself. Can you talk about interacting with those actors?

Gwilym Lee: I loved those scenes, actually. I really love working with Steve Wall, who plays Ivan. He's terrific, and he's really sinister and creepy in this film. And I love their relationship, the way that it's written. I think Ivan is led to believe that he's an equal to Ted. And when he suggests that he might be, Ted's like, "No, thank you very much." Such is his level of arrogance and superiority.

But yeah, it was an interesting idea to me that he was a psychiatrist. I think he's learning his behavior from these people. I think he's observing and learning sociopathic behavior and how to blend in.

Carolyn, I have to say, I was very nervous that Darcy was going to take her rage out on Yana in their scenes. They're filled with tension, and I was like, is it her fault? Can you talk about working with her and building to a boil that relationship?

Carolyn Bracken: I found those scenes really beautiful with how they came out in the edit, because I think Darcy was... It was like a cat playing with a mouse. Do you know what I mean? I think that she was just toying with her because vengeance was just this obstacle that was in the way, and she was going to toy with her. But I think what is really beautiful and really sad about it is Dani's intervention, about getting Yana the hell out of there.

And I found watching that quite emotional, actually. That's where they connected briefly, as Darcy said, that Dani was the more level-headed one, but I think in another world, I don't think Darcy was planning on letting Yana get out alive. I don't know.

Oddity's Influences & Other Works Starring The Cast

Damian, I read your parents owned a VHS rental shop, and I'm obsessed with this factoid. Are there any horror movies that you would watch over and over again, that you would rent over and over again that helped inspire your approach?

Damian McCarthy: Probably just growing up with that video shop and after school, waiting for my parents to finish work, to come home, you're just spending your evening inside and looking at the VHS tapes. This would've been the eighties and early nineties as well, so I had that old, those thick VHS copies with the old artwork and all that. I'd just take home all the posters. The video shops would send posters, and my wall would just be papered with Predator and Alien and all this kind of stuff. It's a constant.

I don't know if there's any particular film, but I was always in the horror section. It was always where I'd be found, just reading the backs. Even if I hadn't seen the films, I'd just be reading the back and go, "Oh, I wonder what it's about?" I'm sure it sparked off something in my imagination at an early age.

Did your parents have any rules about what you couldn't watch?

Damian McCarthy: I think The Exorcist was probably the one thing. I suppose in Catholic Ireland, it's like, "Oh, be careful because the devil..." Everything else was fine. There was no problem with serial killers or anything else.

On a separate note, I have to say, Gwilym, I loved The Great, and I loved you in it. I was so sad it was ripped away from me. How did you feel about ending it there? Did you want to go on more of a journey?

Gwilym Lee: Yeah, it would've been great. But the way that season 3 ended up was there was an ending of sorts anyway, so it feels right that it ended there, I think. I miss it because it was a great job and lovely people, but all good things come to an end.

Oddity had its premiere at SXSW on March 8 and will be streaming on Shudder in the Summer of 2024.

Source: Screen Rant Plus