By Simon Thompson
Writer/director Tyler Savage’s Oddities is a serviceable, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin horror movie, but, which despite its stylish direction and excellent sound design, the overall formulaic nature of its plot made me enjoy it a lot less than I wanted too.
Oddities is the story of two self-destructive best friends Rose (Lilimar) and Makenna (Lovie Simone), who after killing their drug dealer by accident, are forced to flee town. Desperate, the pair stops by an outwardly welcoming roadside antiques shop, run by Betty ( Adrienne Barbeau), and despite initial appearances Rose and Makenna quickly realise that Betty is far from being a sweet old lady.
What makes Oddities stand out visually is that Savage brings together a 90s neo noir look reminiscent of movies such as One False Move, Bound, and Red Rock West, together with John Carpenter style long takes, single location narratives, and the juxtaposition of a seemingly mundane location housing some kind of great evil or dark secret.
The Carpenter nods don’t end there however, with the synth sound design as well as the casting of regular Carpenter favourite Adrienne Barbeau as the movie’s antagonist being indicative of the mood that Savage is trying to capture as a filmmaker.
While Lilimar and Lovie Simone are perfectly serviceable in their roles, this movie belongs to Adrienne Barbeau, whose performance as Betty is so commanding you can’t take your eyes off her, whenever she is on screen. The ability that Barbeau has to turn from a Werther’s Original advert sweet antique shop owner into a sadistic monster is well worth the price of admission.
If you go into Oddities expecting something that breaks the status quo you will be bitterly disappointed, but at an hour and twenty eight minutes if you want a film with some stylish neo-noir tinged cinematography and some fun John Carpenter callbacks, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Oddities.
