Oddity

(SPOILERS please go into this knowing as little as possible SPOILERS)

One of the best horror films I've ever seen.

The pacing is absolutely fantastic, the lighting perfect, the characters were believable and well-acted.

I loved the inclusion of the tulpa-esque Irish pagan mannequin, it was a great tension point. It was great to be unsure of who was the antagonist, then to root for Darcy and have the juxtaposition of being scared by the mannequin, but also wanting Darcy to get her vengeance.

One of the first movies I've seen this year, that I don't feel needed to be longer.

Rated a Connor 10, normal 9

When I think about, not much really happens in the movie. But the tension and atmosphere make it one of the more effective and creepy horror movies I've seen in a while.

[Fantasia '24] There is much of the intrinsic terror of the story in the atmosphere surrounding the protagonist, whose ability to psychologically connect with the past through the objects that belonged to her sister. And it establishes a confrontation between the male and female characters, who are placed in opposing positions. Dani feels the threat of the intruder, while Darcy's parapsychology establishes a distance from the rationality of the Ted's psychiatry. The film works as a story about gender conflicts, but with greater subtlety than we usually see in recent horror films.

Loved it! Most horror movies nowadays rely on cheap jump scares and visual effects... Here the creators clearly had very limited budget so they went totally old school with hardly any sfx and very suspenseful atmosphere and it was so fucking good!

Jumps through a lot of loosely connected narrative hoops to get to its final destination, but the journey there is thick with atmosphere, dread and some of the best scares I've seen for a long, long time. Stay blind, let the movie surprise you and enjoy the ride. The standout horror of the year for me so far, and one I'll definitely be revisiting come October. Shudder are finding their groove, they're 2/2 this year for me alongside The Devils Bath.

- Perfect tone & kept me on suspense for almost the whole runtime
- The plot is a bit meh, lots of holes and questions you could bring up, but its just a vehicle for the tension
- Wooden man creeepy

I really enjoyed this one. Despite the film being narratively slow and nothing really happening the way they managed to build suspense and make scenes tense is what worked really well. Very simple story telling, nothing flashy or even the use of jump scares but it was effective for what it was.

Best horror movie of the year

Another excellent horror in a year filled with excellent horror movies. I went into this movie totally blind, and so I was able to enjoy the twists and turns of the plot. The first half in particular is very tense and mysterious, and it definitely was getting to me. The movie does rely a bit on jump scares, but it also creates a strong atmosphere that is heightened by the few jumps, leaving the viewer to just guess when the next shoe will drop. As the movie progresses and you start to figure out the secrets behind everything, I think some of the tension and scares get deflated, and I was able to predict some of the larger events. It still feels very fresh, though, and the inevitability of the plot is a function of how well designed and foreshadowed everything is. The use of shadows throughout is great. I constantly looked at the background, trying to parse out any outlines. The acting was pretty good, especially from Carolyn Bracken. A very intriguing movie worth your time.