‘Oddity’ proves horror doesn’t have to scream to haunt you | The Haunted Column

The title 'Oddity' is deceptively simple. It suggests something out of the ordinary, just a little off. It lures you in like a whisper, then slowly unravels into something far stranger and far more unsettling than you expect.
Directed by Damian Mc Carthy, the film begins as a straightforward supernatural horror but quickly veers into psychological territory with sharp turns and a sinister grin. At the centre is Dani, a blind woman played with eerie restraint by Carolyn Bracken. She runs an antiques store filled with haunted and cursed objects, each with its own dark story. Dani arrives at a remote house after the brutal murder of her twin sister, carrying with her a lifeless wooden mannequin that seems to know more than it should. Yes, it sounds absurd. And yet, somehow, it works. That mannequin is going to live in your mind long after the film ends.

What makes 'Oddity' so compelling is how little it tries to explain, yet how completely it pulls you in. It avoids the usual horror gimmicks. There are no cheap jump scares or long-winded backstories. Instead, Mc Carthy builds a quiet, creeping dread, letting the story unfold piece by piece. From the very start, it feels like you’ve walked in on something you were never meant to see.

Visually, the film is sparse and deliberate. The camera lingers on dark corners and half-lit rooms. The silence between characters feels loaded. The rural Irish setting adds a cold, eerie layer to everything. Mc Carthy uses the idea of blindness—both Dani’s and ours in certain scenes—as a way to unsettle us. You are never entirely sure what is real, what is imagined, or what might be standing just outside the frame.

Beneath the surface, the film is also about grief and control. It explores the quiet, desperate ways people shape their own realities to survive. Dani is not just solving a mystery. She is reclaiming her place in a world that has underestimated her. The film does not spell this out, but it is there, steady and sharp.

Carolyn Bracken holds the screen with a calm intensity. Dani is not your typical horror lead. She is quiet, watchful, and oddly fearless. There is no panicked screaming or frantic running. Just stillness, a quiet sense of knowing, and the occasional flash of something more dangerous.

The third act refuses to tie everything up neatly. That is part of its strength. 'Oddity' leaves space for you to sit with your questions. It trusts you to figure it out or at least accept that you might not. The unease it creates lingers like a dream you are not sure you fully understood.
In a year full of loud, chaotic horror films that scream for attention, 'Oddity' chooses to whisper. And somehow, that whisper might be the most chilling thing of all.