Oddity (Medium): When the Dead Speak, You Better Listen

Every few years, a horror film emerges from the independent circuit that doesn’t just scare audiences—it unnerves them deep in their bones. In 2026, that film is Oddity (released in Turkey under the title Medium). Directed by the rising Irish auteur Damian Mc Carthy, who previously terrified audiences with Caveat, this film is a suffocating exercise in dread.

Set to hit Turkish cinemas on February 20, 2026, Oddity is not your typical jump-scare fest. It is a slow-burning, occult mystery that relies on silence, shadows, and one of the most terrifying props in recent movie history. For the viewers on fmovies.tr who are tired of formulaic slasher movies and crave something that feels like a cold hand gripping the back of their neck, this is the essential watch of the season. It weaves a tale of grief, twin telepathy, and cursed objects into a tapestry of pure nightmare fuel.

The Plot: A Haunted Heirloom and a Cold Case

The narrative structure of Oddity is deceptively simple, yet layered with psychological complexity. The story begins with a brutal inciting incident. Dani (played by Carolyn Bracken) is renovating a remote country house with her husband, Ted (Gwilym Lee), a doctor at a nearby psychiatric institution. One night, while alone, Dani is savagely murdered. The blame is pinned on Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), a disturbed patient from the asylum who visited the house that night warning her of danger. Olin is soon found dead, leaving the case technically closed, but factually murky.

Fast forward one year. Ted has moved on with alarming speed and is now living in the same house—where his wife died—with his new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton). But the past refuses to stay buried. Enter Darcy (also played by Carolyn Bracken in a dual role), Dani’s blind twin sister.

The Blind Medium’s Revenge

Darcy is the antithesis of her deceased sister. She is a self-proclaimed psychic and a collector of “cursed” curiosities, running a shop filled with oddities. Convinced that the official story of her sister’s death is a lie, Darcy pays an unexpected visit to Ted and Yana. She doesn’t come alone. She brings a “gift”: a life-sized, grotesque wooden mannequin that sits at a table, its mouth frozen in a silent scream.

As night falls over the isolated house, Darcy uses her connection to the spirit world—and her terrifying wooden companion—to peel back the layers of deceit. The film transforms into a cat-and-mouse game where the hunter is blind, the prey is guilty, and the weapon is supernatural.

Director’s Vision: Damian Mc Carthy’s Theater of Dread

Damian Mc Carthy has cemented himself as a master of “liminal horror.” Much like in his debut Caveat, Mc Carthy uses architecture as a weapon. The house in Oddity is vast, cold, and mostly unlit. He understands that what you don’t see is often scarier than what you do.

The director’s background in editing shines through in the film’s pacing. He holds shots for uncomfortable lengths of time, forcing the audience to scan the dark corners of the screen, waiting for something to move. His use of the “Wooden Man” is a masterstroke of production design. In the hands of a lesser director, a wooden doll would be cheesy. In Mc Carthy’s hands, it is a totem of absolute terror. He plays with the concept of “object permanence”—the doll is in one room, then the camera pans away, and when it returns, the doll has shifted slightly. Or has it? This gaslighting of the audience creates an atmosphere of relentless tension.

The Cast: A Dual Performance for the Ages

A horror movie is only as good as its victims and its villains, and Oddity boasts a stellar cast that elevates the material.

• Carolyn Bracken as Dani and Darcy: This is a tour-de-force performance. Bracken plays both twins, but they feel like completely distinct entities. As Dani, she is warm and vulnerable. As Darcy, she is stoic, eerie, and commanding. Playing a blind character requires a specific physicality—a stillness and a reliance on touch and sound—which Bracken executes perfectly. She makes Darcy an unlikely, terrifying hero.
• Gwilym Lee as Ted: Lee (known for Bohemian Rhapsody) plays the role of the skeptical, arrogant husband with chilling precision. He embodies the “gaslighting partner” trope, dismissing Darcy’s spiritualism as mental illness. His slow realization that he is no longer in control of his own home is satisfying to watch.
• Caroline Menton as Yana: Often, the “new girlfriend” in horror movies is written as a villain. However, Menton brings a lot of humanity to Yana. She is not evil; she is just in a bad situation, terrified of the creepy blind woman and her wooden doll. Her fear acts as the audience’s surrogate.
• Tadhg Murphy as Olin: Though his screen time is limited, Murphy’s performance in the prologue sets the tone for the entire film. His frantic, desperate warning is the catalyst for the mystery.

Critical Review: Why ‘Oddity’ is a Future Classic

Oddity (Medium) stands out in the 2026 horror landscape because it respects the intelligence of its audience. It doesn’t rely on gore to shock you; it relies on the uncanny.

The Power of Sound and Sight

Because the protagonist is blind, the film places a heavy emphasis on sound design. The creaking of floorboards, the whistle of the wind, and the ringing of a bell become major plot points. The audience learns to listen like Darcy does. Visually, the film is stunningly bleak. The color palette is desaturated, emphasizing the stone greys and deep blacks of the Irish countryside.

The Wooden Man: An Iconic Monster

We must discuss the wooden man. This prop deserves to be in the horror hall of fame alongside Annabelle and Chucky. However, unlike those dolls, the wooden man doesn’t run around giggling. It is a golem, a vessel. Its terror comes from its stillness. The way Mc Carthy frames the mannequin—often just sitting at a dinner table or standing in the shadows—taps into the primal fear of inanimate objects coming to life.

Themes of Justice and Revenge

At its core, Oddity is a revenge tragedy. It explores how grief can twist a person. Darcy is not necessarily a “good” person; she is a vengeful spirit in human form, willing to unleash hell to get justice for her sister. The film asks: How far would you go to uncover the truth? And is summoning a demon ever a fair price to pay for revenge?

Oddity (Medium) is a concise, effective, and deeply scary 98 minutes of cinema. It wastes no time. Every scene serves the mystery. The jump scares, when they come, are earned and devastating. The finale is a chaotic, supernatural crescendo that will leave you breathless.

For fans of The Conjuring, Hereditary, or Talk to Me, this film is a must-watch. It proves that Irish horror is currently producing some of the best genre work in the world. Do not watch this movie alone in the dark, and certainly do not buy any wooden antiques afterwards.