Why is No One Talking About the Scariest Movie of the Year?

Horror is in a golden resurgence as of late, with some truly fantastic fright-fests having been released over the past few years. As for the 2024 release schedule, Nicholas Cage’s Longlegs is a film that seems to have grabbed the headlines after being dubbed the “scariest of all time”. We’ve seen it, and while it is pretty scary, it’s far from achieving that tagline.

A movie that does deserve a nod in that scariest category is indie horror Oddity, and while it may not be the scariest of all time, it sure as hell takes the cake for the most terrifying of 2024.

Originally released on horror streaming service Shudder (and available on Amazon Prime), Oddity is a rather unusual, unpredictable, and unsettling film that blends some grounded violence and horror with pseudo-supernatural elements. Going into Oddity blind without seeing the trailer is probably a great choice, as it’ll up the ‘WTF factor’ even further, making you question where in the world this film is taking you.

As many films lean into using CGI and big jump scares to get your heart rate up, Oddity takes the less is more approach, using tension as one of the standout elements, introducing wide shots and cinematography that utilise a lot of dark corners and shadows to keep your eyes constantly darting around the dark spots to try and find something. It’s insanely uneasy, and lasts the entirety of its 1.5-hour runtime. It also features one of the most hair-raising and unsettling moments to set the stage early in the film.

On top of that, Oddity pretty much takes place in a single setting: a stone farmhouse that is rather simple in its design, but leaves a lot of mystery due to the layout of the building and interior. It so cleverly utilises rectangular architecture to reduce what you see, and what you don’t, and while you get to know the house more and more as the movie progresses, it almost makes the anticipation worse.

It’s hard not to talk about Oddity more without giving away too much, but for any horror fans looking for something to drive up the tension without schlocky jump-scares, this is a must-watch.