Monthly Archive: October 2024

Oddity

After the brutal murder of a woman in a creepy old estate, the woman’s sister and widower are left to deal with the strange aftereffects of the event. This isn’t a simple whodunnit though, because the sister is a powerful medium who brings a strange artifact into the house; a mysterious crate containing an unusual wooden figure.

Coming out on streaming services only recently, I watched it on Shudder but it’s also available on other VoD sites, Oddity had a massive amount of buzz behind it and I was pretty excited to get a chance to watch it. This movie has received almost universal acclaim, and for good reason, its setting, atmosphere, and visuals are all top-notch, making an essentially two-room movie feel much grander than it actually is. The wooden figure in the shape of a man steals the show, it’s so damn creepy and I wouldn’t be surprised if that becomes a cult horror icon in the coming years. I was also pretty into the performances, they’re mostly natural and clear in their dramatic purposes.

The big problem for me here is twofold, I didn’t find the characters or storyline interesting at all. The widower is the stock hyper-logical doctor who admonishes anyone for ever suggesting anything supernatural or even inexplicable, while the sister is a literal psychic who seems to have 100% accurate psychic powers and is wise and right all the time. Additionally, the story is an extremely basic murder mystery where the mystery isn’t a mystery at all. None of this is my thing. I don’t usually like murder mysteries, I don’t like movies about all-seeing mediums, and I was preparing myself to not enjoy Oddity. But there was a lot I liked about Oddity and I did enjoy the movie, so maybe that’s an even bigger recommendation than I thought, that if someone who doesn’t even like this kind of movie enjoyed it, then it must really be someone’s jam.

After coercing/convincing his girlfriend and her friends/coworkers to accompany him to an island resort, the group’s vacation is cut short by the dual threats of a powerful hurricane and an undead shark making an army of zombie sharks. Obviously, this is low budget and schlocky with usually spotty special effects. That isn’t necessarily a deal breaker for me though, because the hammy performances, absurd shark attack sequences, and barebones setpieces provide more than enough charm. This movie was clearly made by a couple people with more gumption than sense and I have to applaud them because that is the backbone of indie filmmaking and why I love the genre so much. Also, this is an entry in the seemingly endless ocean of Z grade shark movies, Zombie Shark represents something intensely nostalgic for me. I’ve shared dozens upon dozens of terrible shark movies with friends, family, and loved ones, and while Zombie Shark isn’t a masterpiece, it remains a fun time that is certainly worth a beer and riffing night. Finally, good job to whoever demanded this movie be retitled Zombie Shark, it’s a way better title than Shark Island. Maybe it would have been a good idea to replace the ‘Shark Island’ title card with a ‘Zombie Shark’ title card though, because when that Shark Island title card came up I was concerned I got catfished. Catsharked? Sharkfished? Anyway, thanks for joining me for the first day of Spooktober!