The Scariest Movie of 2024 is Now Streaming
It’s not often that my hardened horror heart can be excited (and scared) by a new horror movie. That’s not a matter of quality—there are plenty of fantastic horror movies released every year—but more a matter of volume. When you’ve seen so much, your tastes are naturally desensitized and familiarized with the genre’s tropes and rhythms. That makes a movie like Damien Mc Carthy’s Oddity all the more surprising because I was scared. Really scared. Yelp and jump out of my seat scared. Oddity is 2024’s greatest horror surprise, and most audiences agree it’s the year’s scariest movie. Dim the lights and prepare to scream because Oddity is now streaming free.
Per Shudder:
When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted are renovating, everyone suspects a patient from the local mental health institution, where Ted is a doctor. However, soon after the tragic killing, the suspect is found dead. A year later, Dani’s blind twin sister Darcy, a self-proclaimed psychic and collector of cursed items, pays an unexpected visit to Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana. Convinced that there was more to her sister’s murder than people know, Darcy has brought with her the most dangerous items from her cursed collection to help her exact revenge.
In our review of Oddity out of this year’s SXSW film festival, we wrote, “Oddity is a bizarre nightmare of a film that while relying on familiar story beats, crafts a very scary movie that cuts you to the bone with every new twist.” If you’ve been fortunate enough to catch Oddity in the wild, you might have even seen a particular pull quote on the home release cover art.
“One of the scariest movies of the year” is something of an understatement. Oddity is a back-to-basics scare fest that solidifies Caveat director Damien Mc Carthy as a force to be reckoned with in the horror world. His style is macabre, gothic, and most importantly, really, really scary. In fact, even horror master Mike Flanagan agrees, contending that Oddity is one of the scariest movies in years.
In a Letterboxd review of the film, Flanagan wrote, “One of the best of the year, for sure, and confirmation that Mc Carthy is the real deal. This one gets under the skin.” Flanagan goes on to say Oddity has a particularly frightening opening sequence, and while I won’t spoil it here, I am inclined to agree. It’s one of the strongest horror beats in years, one that will undoubtedly rank among the pantheon of great horror movie openings.
I want to know what you think. Were you a fan of Oddity? Do you agree that it’s the scariest movie of the year? If not, what was? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Oddity is now streaming free on Shudder.
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