Damian McCarthy terrified audiences with his first feature film Caveat in 2020, starring a rabbit and one of the most disturbing scares in recent memory. This year, McCarthy returns with his new take on horror, Oddity, a ghostly murder mystery about a blind psychic searching for the fact about his twin’s death.
In Oddity, “A blind psychic discovers her sister’s death with the help of a terrifying wooden mannequin. “
We chatted with McCarthy and Oddity stars Carolyn Bracken and Gwilym Lee about making the scariest movie of 2024, this scary man, and more.
Gwilym Lee: There were probably some rainy seats.
Damian McCarthy: I think we were excited before we didn’t see Oddity with an audience and they responded to the right choices and some that we didn’t expect either. In a way, they identified a sense of humor that they might not have been aware of was necessarily present. It was a smart night. It was fun.
DM: yes, I think you have to love horror movies all your life, and then all the subgenres of that horror movie. Your slasher and your ghost story and your mental mystery and I’m just looking to combine them all in combination and see if you can pull it off. And luckily, it worked because you never know. But I will say it’s written with love because I love all those subgenres, so I never said, “Okay, I’m just looking for it. “It’s only now that it’s all over and other people have noticed it that you start to see it [everything comes in combination]. In the end, it’s even a monster movie.
DM: I guess the golem would probably be the closest thing, but no, it’s nothing special. I have nothing in Irish folklore about murderers roaming the countryside. No, it’s just this concept of an object coming, all your classics like Talking. Tina in The Twilight Zone and Chucky.
DM: I like to draw myself. I’m not very smart about it, but I do storyboards and all that. Even the way he portrayed in the script was just screaming. The only explanation is why I go undercover myself in sound design. Once you get to sound design, if it does something, it allows you to be open to those concepts later on. But really, it’s about sitting down with designer Paul McDonald and watching him come up with those concepts. Paul has a lot of experience. It has built massive structures before and they are essentially creatures made of wood, ivy, and twisted bark. So he was able to take that concept and put a horror spin on it with this thing.
Carolyn Bracken: yes, I guess Darcy’s character is so tied to Woody McWood Face that I felt a kind of warmth that made me feel satisfied to see him there. You know what I mean? Most of the time, as far as I can remember, I was leaning at the end of the table in this pose. And when you think there are dozens of teams on set, everyone cares and works around it. become an integral component of furniture. But at first it was very unsettling, especially that eternal scream. It feels different than you think it will feel.
GL: It was ubiquitous. He was just there and was kind of a witness to everyday life, actually watching in silence.
CB: yes, I think Darcy and Danni were originally there in the script, you know what I mean?And Darcy is obviously very different from Danni. I’ve said it several times regarding Darcy’s preparation in particular, there’s a component. From me I was a little worried [about the role of the two characters]. I think his heart, but also his moral ambiguity, is about seeking to balance all things together.
But I found that, to be fair to you, the design of the dress, the hair, the makeup, the script, running with Damian each and every day, each and every scene, pretty thoroughly. I’ve said it many times, that it’s very easy for me to locate it once I’ve discovered it, once I’ve put on that dress, once I’ve done my hair and makeup. yes, she just found out to me, I think, which sounds a little bit. Can I say wobbly? But yes, I think in this process she discovered me a little bit.
CB: I’d be lying if I said I’m not worried. I tried to make sure I got it right. Just Darcy’s story too. She wasn’t blind, you know what I mean?So she also runs the world with that attitude. It was just a matter of doing your homework and seeking to perceive this a little more. I had contacts who helped me, but it was day in and day out. And then there are differences in the way you move around your antique store. She’s very comfortable in there. She knows the geography and is also guided through the wooden scenes of the house. So, yes, it was just taking it scene after scene in terms of navigating it and trying to do it carefully, sensitively, and as productively as possible.
DM: Yes, it worked. I think it was to try to give that timeless feel to the film. I said before that I did my best to write mobile phones from the script. That’s the only generation piece there because even in Darcy’s apartment, she’s employing an old answering machine and things like that. Our brilliant set designer, Lauren, I think Lauren was only about 22 years old. We said, “Lauren, we want an answering machine. ” She asked, “What is an answering machine?”Like, “How old are you? But she’s amazing. For someone so young, she created this world that turns out to be quite ancient.
DM: It’s funny. I’ve been thinking about it because we don’t communicate much about it with her.
DM: Some of those elements come from short films I’ve made. I mean, the characters are still there and Darcy] is a very attractive character anyway. It has stories. So yes, it’s attractive.
DM: Unfortunately, it’s not the same rabbit. I guess it’s the same kind of feeling. I just like old, worn-out accessories, but I think it’s just a matter of aesthetics. A lot of that, including the rabbit in Caveat, was fostered in large part through Jim Henson’s old ’80s movie, Dream Child. There’s the Mad Hatter component and I mean, the rabbit in there is terrifying. It’s a movie. So yes, I think I have this idea that if I can design accessories, any accessory that I think I’ll design one day, it’s going to be somewhere in the references, even if it’s not a bunny.