In the first minutes of “Oddity,” a woman is faced with an impossible choice. She is home alone while her doctor husband works the night shift at a psychiatric hospital. A strange man missing an eye shows up at her door. He claims not to be a threat and informs the resident that someone else, who is trying to hurt her, is already inside the large and isolated home. Should she open the door for this figure or ignore his warning? The nerve-racking scenario takes hold of one’s anxieties and sets the tone for an unsettling ride, which IFC will release theatrically before the film streams on Shudder.
Exactly what happens next and why won’t be revealed right away, since Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy deliberately jumbles the timeline of events in his effectively frightening and unexpectedly droll haunted-house horror. Fast-forward a few months and Ted (Gwilym Lee), the aforementioned medical professional,...
Exactly what happens next and why won’t be revealed right away, since Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy deliberately jumbles the timeline of events in his effectively frightening and unexpectedly droll haunted-house horror. Fast-forward a few months and Ted (Gwilym Lee), the aforementioned medical professional,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Variety Film + TV
With the 2024 Overlook Film Festival now officially in the rearview mirror, the annual New Orleans celebration of all things horror has announced the winners of its audience and jury awards.
The festival’s top prize, the Audience Award for Feature Film, went to “Oddity,” Damian Mc Carthy’s home invasion horror flick that was a breakout from the SXSW 2024 midnight lineup.
“’Oddity’ delivers a brilliant, bespoke, and tightly entertaining string of ideas that work stronger as a collection — with even these missteps feeling like they branch from a unified center,” IndieWire’s Alison Foreman wrote in her Overlook review of the film. “Similar to Mc Carthy’s earlier ‘Caveat,’ this 98-minute treat demands to be reassessed a second time. Thank the wooden boy it’s coming to streaming: a triumphant addition to the director’s growing filmography and a standout in Shudder’s carousel of kick-ass ghost stories.”
Keep reading...
The festival’s top prize, the Audience Award for Feature Film, went to “Oddity,” Damian Mc Carthy’s home invasion horror flick that was a breakout from the SXSW 2024 midnight lineup.
“’Oddity’ delivers a brilliant, bespoke, and tightly entertaining string of ideas that work stronger as a collection — with even these missteps feeling like they branch from a unified center,” IndieWire’s Alison Foreman wrote in her Overlook review of the film. “Similar to Mc Carthy’s earlier ‘Caveat,’ this 98-minute treat demands to be reassessed a second time. Thank the wooden boy it’s coming to streaming: a triumphant addition to the director’s growing filmography and a standout in Shudder’s carousel of kick-ass ghost stories.”
Keep reading...
- 4/11/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
From pressed pennies to serial killer trophies, collections come in all shapes and sizes. Special assortments do not have to be uniform, nor does their common trait need to be immediately apparent. Just take the menagerie of artifacts in the basement from “Cabin in the Woods” or the museum of haunted items central to “The Conjuring” series. In fact, some of the best collections are really puzzles holding the solutions to even more arcane mysteries.
Such is the case with “Oddity,” writer/director Damian Mc Carthy’s second feature film, which premiered at SXSW as part of festival’s midnight lineup on March 8. Featuring a steely blind psychic (Carolyn Bracken) as its supernatural star and a menacing wooden mannequin as its scary centerpiece, this mostly single-location thriller is made in an almost-but-not-quite vaudevillian style that feels spiritually akin to “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.” It’s a richly...
Such is the case with “Oddity,” writer/director Damian Mc Carthy’s second feature film, which premiered at SXSW as part of festival’s midnight lineup on March 8. Featuring a steely blind psychic (Carolyn Bracken) as its supernatural star and a menacing wooden mannequin as its scary centerpiece, this mostly single-location thriller is made in an almost-but-not-quite vaudevillian style that feels spiritually akin to “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.” It’s a richly...
- 3/26/2024
- by Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Damian McCarthy sure does love a creepy antique. If you don’t recall the director’s previous effort Caveat, you at least remember the film’s desiccated stuffed bunny which featured heavily in its plot about sick family secrets hiding within the bones of a remote Irish house. McCarthy scales-up the prop-fetishism (and scares!) in Oddity, which centers around a terrifying human-size wooden effigy that may hold the key to righting a wrong committed against an innocent women.
Carolyn Bracken (You Are Not My Mother) stars as Dani, who answers the door one night and is greeted by a mysterious man named Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy) who claims that she has an intruder in her home. Initially skeptical, she decides to let the man in before the film leaps forward. A while later, Boole has died after taking the fall for Dani’s murder and her doctor husband Ted (Gwilym Lee...
Carolyn Bracken (You Are Not My Mother) stars as Dani, who answers the door one night and is greeted by a mysterious man named Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy) who claims that she has an intruder in her home. Initially skeptical, she decides to let the man in before the film leaps forward. A while later, Boole has died after taking the fall for Dani’s murder and her doctor husband Ted (Gwilym Lee...
- 3/19/2024
- by Rocco T. Thompson
- DailyDead
Left to right: Cuckoo, Immaculate, Azrael, Birdeater (all images courtesy SXSW)Graphic: The A.V. Club
The film festival portion of South by Southwest is always packed with stars, bringing their would-be blockbusters out to Austin, Texas, for splashy premieres. But it’s also a festival that’s never lost sight of the power of genre.
The film festival portion of South by Southwest is always packed with stars, bringing their would-be blockbusters out to Austin, Texas, for splashy premieres. But it’s also a festival that’s never lost sight of the power of genre.
- 3/19/2024
- by Matthew Jackson
- avclub.com
Writer/Director Damian Mc Carthy‘s sophomore effort, Oddity, serves as a welcome extension of his feature debut, Caveat, in many ways. Aside from the brief return of at least one familiar face and a nightmare bunny, Oddity continues the filmmaker’s exploration of supernatural karma and retribution with offbeat characters and a unique vision for scares. Armed with a tighter narrative, a lighter tone, and a creepy mannequin, Mc Carthy further establishes his horror style.
Oddity begins with an intense scenario that sees a woman, Dani (You Are Not My Mother’s Carolyn Bracken), forced to decide whether to trust the desperate stranger at her door, insisting someone snuck into her empty, rural house when she wasn’t looking. Dani’s ultimate decision sets up the overarching mystery. A quick time jump ahead reveals that Dani was murdered that fateful night and that her husband, Ted (Gwilym Lee), is...
Oddity begins with an intense scenario that sees a woman, Dani (You Are Not My Mother’s Carolyn Bracken), forced to decide whether to trust the desperate stranger at her door, insisting someone snuck into her empty, rural house when she wasn’t looking. Dani’s ultimate decision sets up the overarching mystery. A quick time jump ahead reveals that Dani was murdered that fateful night and that her husband, Ted (Gwilym Lee), is...
- 3/9/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
The world’s creepiest mannequin holds the secret behind a shocking death in Damian McCarthy’s Oddity. Dani (Carolyn Bracken) is struggling to restore an old estate inherited by her busy doctor husband, Ted (Gwilym Lee). When a mysterious and violent death befalls her as she’s alone in the house one night, it’s up to her blind medium twin sister, Darcy (also Bracken) to solve the case. However, Darcy won’t be working alone, there’s also a sinister mannequin in the mix, that seems to be more than meets the eye. After Dani’s death, Ted moves along a bit too quickly with his paramour Yana (Caroline Menton), with whom he’d worked at the hospital. It all seems a bit fishy but no one can make the pieces fit,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/9/2024
- Screen Anarchy
This article appears in the SXSW 2024 issue of Den of Geek magazine. Check out all of our SXSW coverage here.
“A revenge ghost story with elements of a monster movie” is how Irish helmer Damian McCarthy describes his latest chiller, which is set to bring “plenty of scares and a few a few laughs” to SXSW’s late-night line-up. A supernatural horror centered around spooky trinkets, Oddity follows a blind medium (You Are Not My Mother’s Carolyn Bracken) as she uncovers the truth behind her twin sister’s death with the help of a terrifying wooden mannequin.
“She collects a lot of haunted items—she can pick up an object and tell you everything about it,” explains McCarthy, the writer/director of 2020’s psychological thriller Caveat and celebrated horror short He Dies at the End. Not only does one of these objects—the aforementioned “wooden man”—help her to catch her sister’s killer,...
“A revenge ghost story with elements of a monster movie” is how Irish helmer Damian McCarthy describes his latest chiller, which is set to bring “plenty of scares and a few a few laughs” to SXSW’s late-night line-up. A supernatural horror centered around spooky trinkets, Oddity follows a blind medium (You Are Not My Mother’s Carolyn Bracken) as she uncovers the truth behind her twin sister’s death with the help of a terrifying wooden mannequin.
“She collects a lot of haunted items—she can pick up an object and tell you everything about it,” explains McCarthy, the writer/director of 2020’s psychological thriller Caveat and celebrated horror short He Dies at the End. Not only does one of these objects—the aforementioned “wooden man”—help her to catch her sister’s killer,...
- 3/8/2024
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The latest edition of the SXSW Film Festival kicks off later this week in Austin, Texas, unleashing an expansive slate of film programming an experiences- emphasis on expansive. For the horror fan, the fest offers so much more beyond the Midnighter programming section, and this SXSW 2024 preview guide should help.
The 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s Opening Night TV Premiere is the highly anticipated Netflix series 3 Body Problem created, executive produced and written by Emmy Award winners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and Emmy Award nominee Alexander Woo. The Midnighter category includes buzzy titles like Samara Weaving-starring Azrael and Sundance favorite It’s What’s Inside. The fest’s Headliner section comes packed with highly anticipated titles like Immaculate, Cuckoo, and Arcadian. But all of this only scratches the surface of titles to get excited about.
Whether you’re heading to Austin this week or keeping track...
The 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s Opening Night TV Premiere is the highly anticipated Netflix series 3 Body Problem created, executive produced and written by Emmy Award winners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and Emmy Award nominee Alexander Woo. The Midnighter category includes buzzy titles like Samara Weaving-starring Azrael and Sundance favorite It’s What’s Inside. The fest’s Headliner section comes packed with highly anticipated titles like Immaculate, Cuckoo, and Arcadian. But all of this only scratches the surface of titles to get excited about.
Whether you’re heading to Austin this week or keeping track...
- 3/4/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Created and written by Ryan J. Brown, the second series of Wreck is set in the months after the events of series one’s shocking blood-soaked conclusion. Oscar Kennedy, Thaddea Graham and Jodie Tyack return alongside fellow survivors Anthony Rickman (Enola Holmes), Amber Grappy (One Day), Peter Claffey (Bad Sisters), Miya Ocego, Warren James Dunning, Alice Nokes, James Phoon (Bridgerton), Ali Hardman, Rory O’Neill (Panti), and Harriet Webb (Big Boys).
We re-join Jamie, Vivian and their found family of survivors back on land, as they strike back against Velorum, the corporate murder machine that claimed Jamie’s sister. In a daring and desperate attempt to bring the Company down, the gang go undercover to infiltrate Velorum’s newest venture – an exclusive ‘wellness’ festival for millionaires in the remote Slovenian countryside. Relationships fray, blood pours, and not everyone will be making it out alive. It’s going to be a cleansing experience…...
We re-join Jamie, Vivian and their found family of survivors back on land, as they strike back against Velorum, the corporate murder machine that claimed Jamie’s sister. In a daring and desperate attempt to bring the Company down, the gang go undercover to infiltrate Velorum’s newest venture – an exclusive ‘wellness’ festival for millionaires in the remote Slovenian countryside. Relationships fray, blood pours, and not everyone will be making it out alive. It’s going to be a cleansing experience…...
- 2/13/2024
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
It’s official! A new season of comedy-horror series “Wreck” is on the way, and Bloody Disgusting has exclusive first look images that tease new slaying grounds and a killer new look for season one’s cruise ship mascot-turned-killer, Quacky the Duck.
Created and written by Ryan J. Brown, “Wreck” leaves treacherous international waters behind for a wellness festival in series two as the mysteries behind the corrupt Velorum deepens.
“Wreck” season two will launch this Spring on BBC Three and later this year on Hulu. You can catch up on the first season now on Hulu.
The new season “is set in the months after the events of series one’s shocking blood-soaked conclusion. We re-join Jamie, Vivian and their found family of survivors back on land, as they strike back against Velorum, the corporate murder machine that claimed Jamie’s sister. In a daring and desperate attempt to bring the Company down,...
Created and written by Ryan J. Brown, “Wreck” leaves treacherous international waters behind for a wellness festival in series two as the mysteries behind the corrupt Velorum deepens.
“Wreck” season two will launch this Spring on BBC Three and later this year on Hulu. You can catch up on the first season now on Hulu.
The new season “is set in the months after the events of series one’s shocking blood-soaked conclusion. We re-join Jamie, Vivian and their found family of survivors back on land, as they strike back against Velorum, the corporate murder machine that claimed Jamie’s sister. In a daring and desperate attempt to bring the Company down,...
- 2/12/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Films has boarded international sales for select territories to Shudder original film “Oddity.”
Written and directed by Damian McCarthy (“Caveat”), the supernatural film will have its world premiere at SXSW 2024 as part of the Midnighter section. Blue Finch will introduce the title in advance to buyers at the Berlin European Film Market (EFM).
“Oddity” follows Darcy, a blind medium, who uncovers the sinister truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. The cast includes Gwilym Lee (“The Great”), Carolyn Bracken (“The Gone”), Tadhg Murphy (“Brassic”), Caroline Menton (“Altar Boys”), Steve Wall (“The English”), Jonathan French (“The Rock in the Sea”) and Joe Rooney (“Harry Wild”).
The film is produced by Shudder, Keeper Pictures and Nowhere Films and is set for a streaming release this summer.
Shudder original “Destroy All Neighbors” will also join Blue Finch’s slate at EFM.
Written and directed by Damian McCarthy (“Caveat”), the supernatural film will have its world premiere at SXSW 2024 as part of the Midnighter section. Blue Finch will introduce the title in advance to buyers at the Berlin European Film Market (EFM).
“Oddity” follows Darcy, a blind medium, who uncovers the sinister truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. The cast includes Gwilym Lee (“The Great”), Carolyn Bracken (“The Gone”), Tadhg Murphy (“Brassic”), Caroline Menton (“Altar Boys”), Steve Wall (“The English”), Jonathan French (“The Rock in the Sea”) and Joe Rooney (“Harry Wild”).
The film is produced by Shudder, Keeper Pictures and Nowhere Films and is set for a streaming release this summer.
Shudder original “Destroy All Neighbors” will also join Blue Finch’s slate at EFM.
- 2/12/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Writer/director Damian Mc Carthy made his feature debut with the Irish horror movie Caveat back in 2021 – it’s streaming on Shudder – and he’s back this year with a new movie.
Just announced as part of the SXSW 2024 lineup, Damian Mc Carthy’s hotly anticipated second movie is titled Oddity, and you can check out a first-look image up above (and below).
“In this new supernatural spectacle from Caveat‘s Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin.”
Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Jonathan French, and Joe Rooney star in Oddity, which will World Premiere at SXSW in March.
Producers include Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, and Evan Horan.
Stay tuned for more on Oddity as we learn it.
The post ‘Oddity’ – First Look at the Creepy Wooden Mannequin in ‘Caveat’ Director...
Just announced as part of the SXSW 2024 lineup, Damian Mc Carthy’s hotly anticipated second movie is titled Oddity, and you can check out a first-look image up above (and below).
“In this new supernatural spectacle from Caveat‘s Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister’s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin.”
Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Steve Wall, Jonathan French, and Joe Rooney star in Oddity, which will World Premiere at SXSW in March.
Producers include Katie Holly, Laura Tunstall, and Evan Horan.
Stay tuned for more on Oddity as we learn it.
The post ‘Oddity’ – First Look at the Creepy Wooden Mannequin in ‘Caveat’ Director...
- 1/10/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
This year’s SXSW Film Festival, taking place in Austin, TX, just unveiled their lineup, and what a massive year for horror.
The 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s Opening Night TV Premiere is the highly anticipated Netflix series 3 Body Problem created, executive produced and written by Emmy Award winners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and Emmy Award nominee Alexander Woo. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg for what’s in store.
The fest unveiled its Midnight lineup, which includes the Samara Weaving-starring Azrael. Elsewhere, look for Neon’s highly anticipated Cuckoo set to make its premiere.
Read on for the genre titles included in SXSW 2024’s lineup, and stay tuned for additional programming announcements.
Narrative Spotlight
Unforgettable features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Cuckoo (Germany)
Director/Screenwriter: Tilman Singer, Producers: Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer...
The 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival’s Opening Night TV Premiere is the highly anticipated Netflix series 3 Body Problem created, executive produced and written by Emmy Award winners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and Emmy Award nominee Alexander Woo. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg for what’s in store.
The fest unveiled its Midnight lineup, which includes the Samara Weaving-starring Azrael. Elsewhere, look for Neon’s highly anticipated Cuckoo set to make its premiere.
Read on for the genre titles included in SXSW 2024’s lineup, and stay tuned for additional programming announcements.
Narrative Spotlight
Unforgettable features receiving their World, North American, or U.S. premieres.
Cuckoo (Germany)
Director/Screenwriter: Tilman Singer, Producers: Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer...
- 1/10/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Quiet Girl Review — The Quiet Girl (2022) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Colm Bairéad and starring Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Michael Patric, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, Carolyn Bracken and Joan Sheehy. Director Colm Bairéad’s affecting new movie, The Quiet Girl, is set in rural Ireland in 1981. This film [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: The Quiet Girl (2022): Catherine Clinch’s Lead Role is Quietly Effective in a Very Moving Irish Film...
Continue reading: Film Review: The Quiet Girl (2022): Catherine Clinch’s Lead Role is Quietly Effective in a Very Moving Irish Film...
- 12/12/2022
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
“It’s Halloween. I guess everyone’s entitled to one good scare,” Sheriff Brackett says in John Carpenter’s Halloween. While the seminal slasher delivered no shortage of creepy moments and well-placed scares, the Halloween movies aren’t the only ones to embrace holiday frights. Whether through subtle moments, gross-out gags, potent jump scares, or phobia-inducing chills, Halloween-set horror offers something for everyone – beyond the iconic franchise.
This Halloween, we look back at ten of the scariest moments in non-Halloween horror movies that take place around the best holiday of the year. Halloween, of course!
The Child – Sentient Jack-o-Lantern
Alicianne has just been hired as housekeeper and caretaker to young Rosalie Nordon, who recently lost her mother. Alicianne soon realizes that Rosalie has a supernatural gift, including zombies at her disposal, and uses it to seek revenge on those who piss her off. Atmospheric dread erupts into Fulci-like chaos on Halloween.
This Halloween, we look back at ten of the scariest moments in non-Halloween horror movies that take place around the best holiday of the year. Halloween, of course!
The Child – Sentient Jack-o-Lantern
Alicianne has just been hired as housekeeper and caretaker to young Rosalie Nordon, who recently lost her mother. Alicianne soon realizes that Rosalie has a supernatural gift, including zombies at her disposal, and uses it to seek revenge on those who piss her off. Atmospheric dread erupts into Fulci-like chaos on Halloween.
- 10/28/2022
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
The countdown to Halloween continues; this week’s streaming picks are dedicated to contemporary horror movies set on or around Halloween. These post-2000 treats embrace the Fall spirit or Halloween iconography, making for excellent seasonal viewing this time of year.
As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Anything for Jackson – AMC+, Shudder
Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings star as Audrey and Henry Walsh, a well-to-do couple mourning their young grandson’s tragic loss. Still deep in the denial stage of grief, they turn to Satanism. The couple kidnaps a pregnant woman for their ritual; they plan to transfer their grandson’s spirit into her unborn baby. The novice practitioners unwittingly bust open the doors to the spirit world, transforming their home into a house of horrors. The snowy setting screams winter, not Fall, but the home gets terrorized by ghosts,...
As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Anything for Jackson – AMC+, Shudder
Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings star as Audrey and Henry Walsh, a well-to-do couple mourning their young grandson’s tragic loss. Still deep in the denial stage of grief, they turn to Satanism. The couple kidnaps a pregnant woman for their ritual; they plan to transfer their grandson’s spirit into her unborn baby. The novice practitioners unwittingly bust open the doors to the spirit world, transforming their home into a house of horrors. The snowy setting screams winter, not Fall, but the home gets terrorized by ghosts,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Exclusive: Richard Flood (Grey’s Anatomy) and Acushla-Tara Kupe (Mr Corman) have been cast as leads in The Gone, a mystery drama series for RTÉ and New Zealand’s Tvnz that brings together Irish and Māori culture. The pair will front the series, which goes into principal photography on location in Auckland and Te Aroha, New Zealand this week, with further shooting taking place in Ireland’s capital Dublin late this year.
New Zealand’s Kingfisher Films and About Joan co-producer Blinder Films are co-producing, in association with another Kiwi firm, Southern Light Films. Te Puna Kairangi, the New Zealand Government’s Premium Productions for International Audiences Fund and New Zealand’s Screen Production Grant; Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann; Nz On Air; and the Bai Sound & Vision Fund have all supported the production. Red Arrow International Studios has the distribution rights.
The Gone stars Flood as Theo Richter, an Irish detective...
New Zealand’s Kingfisher Films and About Joan co-producer Blinder Films are co-producing, in association with another Kiwi firm, Southern Light Films. Te Puna Kairangi, the New Zealand Government’s Premium Productions for International Audiences Fund and New Zealand’s Screen Production Grant; Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann; Nz On Air; and the Bai Sound & Vision Fund have all supported the production. Red Arrow International Studios has the distribution rights.
The Gone stars Flood as Theo Richter, an Irish detective...
- 9/12/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars: Hazel Doupe, Carolyn Bracken, Ingrid Craigie, Jordanne Jones, Paul Reid, Katie White, Florence Adebambo | Written and Directed by Kate Dolan
A North Dublin teenager suspects her mother may be afflicted by more than just a psychological condition in this striking horror debut from writer-director Kate Dolan. Cleverly blending folklore elements and relatable real-life issues, it’s an effective, unsettling chiller that will get under your skin.
Set in a grim-looking North Dublin housing estate, You Are Not My Mother opens with a disturbing prologue, centring on a pram on a deserted street with a crying baby inside. After a while, a woman takes the baby into the woods, where she lights a fire, and the child begins to cry again.
The story then cuts to the present day, where withdrawn teenager Char (Hazel Doupe) lives with her borderline disabled grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) and her mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken...
A North Dublin teenager suspects her mother may be afflicted by more than just a psychological condition in this striking horror debut from writer-director Kate Dolan. Cleverly blending folklore elements and relatable real-life issues, it’s an effective, unsettling chiller that will get under your skin.
Set in a grim-looking North Dublin housing estate, You Are Not My Mother opens with a disturbing prologue, centring on a pram on a deserted street with a crying baby inside. After a while, a woman takes the baby into the woods, where she lights a fire, and the child begins to cry again.
The story then cuts to the present day, where withdrawn teenager Char (Hazel Doupe) lives with her borderline disabled grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) and her mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken...
- 4/13/2022
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
Magnet Releasing will release You Are Not My Mother in theaters and on demand March 25, 2022 Written and Directed by Kate Dolan Starring Hazel Doupe, Carolyn Bracken It’s the week before Halloween. Char’s bedridden mother, Angela, has mysteriously gone missing. All that remains is her abandoned car parked in the middle of a field. …
The post You Are Not My Mother | Official Trailer Out Now appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
The post You Are Not My Mother | Official Trailer Out Now appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
- 4/8/2022
- by Adrian Halen
- Horror News
Debuts don’t get much better than Kate Dolan’s homegrown Irish horror You Are Not My Mother. Premiering in the Toronto International Film Festival’s much-fabled Midnight Madness section, where it nabbed runner up to the People’s Choice Award (losing out only to Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane), it’s a hugely confident, terrifying piece of work that’s hopefully due to be equally celebrated back home too.
One of an exciting new wave of horror filmmakers to break out of Ireland and the UK over the past year, Dolan joins the likes of Prano Bailey-Bond and Rob Savage, the latter of whom she’s truly risen through the ranks with. When this writer first saw Dolan’s work – her vicious little short Catcalls, at FrightFest 4 or 5 years ago now – it was playing alongside Savage’s short Salt. Now it’s their critically acclaimed features...
One of an exciting new wave of horror filmmakers to break out of Ireland and the UK over the past year, Dolan joins the likes of Prano Bailey-Bond and Rob Savage, the latter of whom she’s truly risen through the ranks with. When this writer first saw Dolan’s work – her vicious little short Catcalls, at FrightFest 4 or 5 years ago now – it was playing alongside Savage’s short Salt. Now it’s their critically acclaimed features...
- 4/6/2022
- by Ben Robins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
A24’s SXSW opener Everything Everywhere All At Once, Bleecker Street’s Infinite Storm and Sony Pictures Classics’ Mothering Sunday offer something that’s been rare of late at the specialty box office, fresh content and choice.
They’re in a market with only one new studio wide release, Paramount’s The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock. And if that film does okay it’s a nice win for everyone, said a specialty distribution executive, since it appeals to an older and female demo that’s been hard to win back to theaters. He’s got fingers crossed that the variant of the Omicron variant won’t make a new dent in the very slowly reviving market for non-superhero films. He and others have noted week after week that no specialty recovery is really possible in any case without the consistent flow of new content that we’re just starting to see.
They’re in a market with only one new studio wide release, Paramount’s The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock. And if that film does okay it’s a nice win for everyone, said a specialty distribution executive, since it appeals to an older and female demo that’s been hard to win back to theaters. He’s got fingers crossed that the variant of the Omicron variant won’t make a new dent in the very slowly reviving market for non-superhero films. He and others have noted week after week that no specialty recovery is really possible in any case without the consistent flow of new content that we’re just starting to see.
- 3/25/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The so-called “elevated” horror genre has lately been overrun with stories in which supernatural creepings function as a metaphor for psychological trauma and dysfunction. At first through-the-fingers glance, “You Are Not My Mother” appears to be following suit, centering as it does on an isolated teenage girl haunted by the unpredictable rhythms of her mother’s debilitating mental illness. But this pervasively eerie, emotionally acute debut from Irish writer-director Kate Dolan doesn’t trade in neat symbolism or pat explanations: Steeped in local folklore, it lets mythic and mind-based terrors exist side by side, allowing the viewer to interpret and believe what they will. This leeway comes at no cost, however, to its effective atmospherics, which sink into the bones like an unexpected twilight chill.
Now getting a limited theatrical run Stateside, Dolan’s film was a highlight of last year’s Midnight Madness selection at Toronto, though that label...
Now getting a limited theatrical run Stateside, Dolan’s film was a highlight of last year’s Midnight Madness selection at Toronto, though that label...
- 3/25/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Hazel Doupe is in practically every scene in "I Am Not Your Mother." Kate Dolan's feature directorial debut is a horror movie, yes, but it's also a coming of age story centering on a girl named Char dealing with issues at home. There is a lot of weight on Char's shoulders, and Doupe shows that internal discomfort when she's on screen, whether she's wandering the streets of Dublin or wondering what's happening with her mother (played by Carolyn Bracken).
Char's mother has been replaced by a changeling, and stories of changelings have a long history in Ireland. The creatures will steal or replace people,...
The post You Are Not My Mother Star Hazel Doupe Celebrates Halloween's Irish Roots [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
Char's mother has been replaced by a changeling, and stories of changelings have a long history in Ireland. The creatures will steal or replace people,...
The post You Are Not My Mother Star Hazel Doupe Celebrates Halloween's Irish Roots [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
- 3/24/2022
- by Jack Giroux
- Slash Film
There is a unique variety of dread known only to horror fans. It is not the fear that an ominous foreshadowing will lead to something terrifying. It is the fear that, this time, it won’t.
With every slow-burn horror story there comes attached a creeping anxiety that it might ultimately fizzle, instead of bursting aflame.
Films like writer-director Kate Dolan’s “You Are Not My Mother” may outwardly project a tale of looming supernatural dread, but in this tale of a young teenager whose mentally-ill mother behaves monstrously, and whose grandmother may or may not be the cause, equally great is the anxiety that Dolan’s film won’t be able to make it all come together in the end. It’s a lot to ask of “You Are Not My Mother,” that it operate as both a scary supernatural thriller and a meaningful allegory for mental illness. To...
With every slow-burn horror story there comes attached a creeping anxiety that it might ultimately fizzle, instead of bursting aflame.
Films like writer-director Kate Dolan’s “You Are Not My Mother” may outwardly project a tale of looming supernatural dread, but in this tale of a young teenager whose mentally-ill mother behaves monstrously, and whose grandmother may or may not be the cause, equally great is the anxiety that Dolan’s film won’t be able to make it all come together in the end. It’s a lot to ask of “You Are Not My Mother,” that it operate as both a scary supernatural thriller and a meaningful allegory for mental illness. To...
- 3/24/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Changelings have a long history in Ireland. Now, another story is being told about the forest creatures in Kate Dolan's promising feature directorial, "You Are Not My Mother." In the film, Char's (Hazel Doupe) mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken), goes missing and returns home one day ... changed. The less said about the plot, the better, but the horrors unfold next door in Dolan's Dublin and suburban-set film.
This is not the story of a family going out to the middle of the woods. "I think actually it's almost scarier to me that something terrible could be happening to you...
The post You Are Not My Mother Director Kate Dolan on Halloween and Irish Folk Tales [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
This is not the story of a family going out to the middle of the woods. "I think actually it's almost scarier to me that something terrible could be happening to you...
The post You Are Not My Mother Director Kate Dolan on Halloween and Irish Folk Tales [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
- 3/24/2022
- by Jack Giroux
- Slash Film
Irish folklore is made up of things like music, folktales, and dance, and includes all of folk culture. Storytelling has always been an Irish tradition and embraces tales of fairies, mermaids, leprechauns, and other mythical creatures. Dublin-based filmmaker Kate Dolan has successfully created a chilling coming-of-age story, which relies on the dark folk history of Ireland, with her debut feature film You Are Not My Mother. Written and directed by Dolan, the film follows a teenager whose mother goes missing and when she returns a few days later, she is horrifyingly different. You Are Not My Mother premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival and received the Runner Up People’s Choice Award in the Midnight Madness section.
Set in Ireland, You Are Not My Mother opens with a woman taking a baby into the woods late at night and building a fire around the crying baby, while reading from...
Set in Ireland, You Are Not My Mother opens with a woman taking a baby into the woods late at night and building a fire around the crying baby, while reading from...
- 3/23/2022
- by Michelle Swope
- DailyDead
Written and directed by Kate Dolan, You Are Not My Mother will be available in theaters and on demand on March 25th, courtesy of Magnet Releasing, and we have an exclusive clip for Daily Dead readers!
"It’s the week before Halloween. Char’s bedridden mother, Angela, has mysteriously gone missing. All that remains is her abandoned car parked in the middle of a field. When Angela returns home to their North Dublin estate the following evening without explanation, it becomes clear to Char and her grandmother, Rita, that something is amiss. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has become increasingly erratic and frightening, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. As Halloween approaches, a night steeped in ancient Irish myth and legend, Char must unearth the dark secrets of her family in order to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance and save her,...
"It’s the week before Halloween. Char’s bedridden mother, Angela, has mysteriously gone missing. All that remains is her abandoned car parked in the middle of a field. When Angela returns home to their North Dublin estate the following evening without explanation, it becomes clear to Char and her grandmother, Rita, that something is amiss. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has become increasingly erratic and frightening, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. As Halloween approaches, a night steeped in ancient Irish myth and legend, Char must unearth the dark secrets of her family in order to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance and save her,...
- 3/22/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Halloween – or Samhain, as it is spoken in the small-town Ireland of Kate Dolan’s stellar debut – is a time of change; a marker of the shift from summer to winter, the light to the dark. It’s also when, according to local folklore, the veil between our world, and the Otherworld, the realm of deities – and the dead – is at its thinnest. When, as horror dictates, we are most at threat, not just from sinister spiritual forces, but ourselves too. And it’s in this multi-layered approach to genre; the deeply personal overlaid with the fantastical, that Dolan’s first feature stands out as a truly powerful piece of horror storytelling.
Set on the greying streets of a suburban housing estate, on the outermost edges of Dublin (where the industrial meets the rural), You Are Not My Mother follows struggling teen Char (Hazel Doupe) in the week leading up to Samhain,...
Set on the greying streets of a suburban housing estate, on the outermost edges of Dublin (where the industrial meets the rural), You Are Not My Mother follows struggling teen Char (Hazel Doupe) in the week leading up to Samhain,...
- 3/11/2022
- by Ben Robins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Hazel Doupe in You Are Not My Mother Photo: Signature Entertainment
This year’s Frightfest strand at the Glasgow Film Festival has been dominated by the impressive contributions of Irish filmmakers, and one of the highlights is this powerful first feature from Kate Dolan. Drawing heavily on folklore and set in a community where it’s far from being a thing of the past, You Are Not My Mother stars Hazel Doupe as an outcast teenager trying to find her place in the world whilst coping with her mother’s (Carolyn Bracken) mental illness, and gradually being persuaded by her grandmother (Ingrid Craigie) that it might not be what it appears. When Kate and I connected, she was keen to talk about the origins of the story and its deep roots in Irish culture.
Family time Photo: Signature Entertainment
“As an Irish person, I think folklores are a big part of your life growing up,...
This year’s Frightfest strand at the Glasgow Film Festival has been dominated by the impressive contributions of Irish filmmakers, and one of the highlights is this powerful first feature from Kate Dolan. Drawing heavily on folklore and set in a community where it’s far from being a thing of the past, You Are Not My Mother stars Hazel Doupe as an outcast teenager trying to find her place in the world whilst coping with her mother’s (Carolyn Bracken) mental illness, and gradually being persuaded by her grandmother (Ingrid Craigie) that it might not be what it appears. When Kate and I connected, she was keen to talk about the origins of the story and its deep roots in Irish culture.
Family time Photo: Signature Entertainment
“As an Irish person, I think folklores are a big part of your life growing up,...
- 3/11/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It’s night-time in an Irish housing estate edged by woodland. A pushchair sits alone at the end of a quiet road, its small passenger unaware that anything is wrong. By the time the camera turns and we see Rita (Ingrid Cragie) standing nearby, most of us will already be feeling unsettled. And that’s before Rita takes the baby into the woods, consults an obscure manuscript, and starts building a fire.
Flash forward some 15 years and Rita is still living in one of those small red brick houses, with her daughter Angela (Carolyn Bracken) and granddaughter Char (Hazel Doupe). She’s not as fit as she used to be and has a bad foot, but she often takes care of Char, all the same, because Angela is mentally ill. It’s not immediately clear what the problem is but she struggles to get out of bed and perform basic tasks.
Flash forward some 15 years and Rita is still living in one of those small red brick houses, with her daughter Angela (Carolyn Bracken) and granddaughter Char (Hazel Doupe). She’s not as fit as she used to be and has a bad foot, but she often takes care of Char, all the same, because Angela is mentally ill. It’s not immediately clear what the problem is but she struggles to get out of bed and perform basic tasks.
- 3/11/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Written and Directed by Kate Dolan Starring Hazel Doupe, Carolyn Bracken It’s the week before Halloween. Char’s bedridden mother, Angela, has mysteriously gone missing. All that remains is her abandoned car parked in the middle of a field. When Angela returns home to their North Dublin estate the following evening without explanation, it becomes clear to Char …
The post Magnet Releasing will release You Are Not My Mother in theaters and on demand March 25, 2022 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
The post Magnet Releasing will release You Are Not My Mother in theaters and on demand March 25, 2022 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.
- 3/8/2022
- by Adrian Halen
- Horror News
Something wicked runs in the family in a creepy, hugely effective feature debut from writer-director Kate Dolan that is anchored by its remarkable lead performances
“Families are the scariest thing on the planet,” says a teenage girl in this Irish horror film from young director Kate Dolan, making a seriously impressive debut. It’s the dead of night in a suburban cul-de-sac outside Dublin: a baby is in the middle of the street, alone and whimpering in its pushchair. A woman scurries out of a house, pushes the buggy into nearby woods and lights a fire.
For the next hour or so the film feels like a slow-burn slice of drab family drama: claustrophobic, but not obviously supernatural. The unsettling sound design begins to reveal the truth; all clanking pipes and whistling winds. Hazel Doupe is terrific as quiet, introspective teenager Char, who lives with her mum Angela (Carolyn Bracken...
“Families are the scariest thing on the planet,” says a teenage girl in this Irish horror film from young director Kate Dolan, making a seriously impressive debut. It’s the dead of night in a suburban cul-de-sac outside Dublin: a baby is in the middle of the street, alone and whimpering in its pushchair. A woman scurries out of a house, pushes the buggy into nearby woods and lights a fire.
For the next hour or so the film feels like a slow-burn slice of drab family drama: claustrophobic, but not obviously supernatural. The unsettling sound design begins to reveal the truth; all clanking pipes and whistling winds. Hazel Doupe is terrific as quiet, introspective teenager Char, who lives with her mum Angela (Carolyn Bracken...
- 2/28/2022
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
(You Are Not My Mother) centers on a teenage girl named Char (Hazel Doupe) whose mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken) goes missing only to return with an increasingly frightening change in personality. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has taken a dark turn, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. When Halloween arrives, Char realizes that she is the only one who can save her mother, even if it means potentially losing her forever. Variety has reported that TIFF Midnight Madness selection You Are Not My Mother, the debut feature film from Kate Dolan has been picked up by Magnet Releasing for North America. “’You Are Not My Mother’ is a fantastically realized journey into one’s most...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/4/2021
- Screen Anarchy
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to “You Are Not My Mother” following its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The movie, an Irish folk horror-thriller, screened in the festival’s Midnight Madness section.
It’s the feature debut of Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan. The film centers on a teenage girl named Char (Hazel Doupe) whose mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken) goes missing only to return with an increasingly frightening change in personality. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has taken a dark turn, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. When Halloween arrives, Char realizes that she is the only one who can save her mother, even if it means potentially losing her forever.
Magnet is planning to release the film next year.
“’You Are Not My Mother’ is a fantastically...
It’s the feature debut of Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan. The film centers on a teenage girl named Char (Hazel Doupe) whose mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken) goes missing only to return with an increasingly frightening change in personality. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has taken a dark turn, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. When Halloween arrives, Char realizes that she is the only one who can save her mother, even if it means potentially losing her forever.
Magnet is planning to release the film next year.
“’You Are Not My Mother’ is a fantastically...
- 10/4/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
"I can't do this anymore." So says Angela (Carolyn Bracken), the weary mother of high schooler Char (Hazel Doupe) at the start of "You Are Not My Mother." That Char doesn't think much of the statement is an indication that Angela has said this sort of thing before. She looks like a woman barely holding herself together, and her daughter has grown used to that. But after Char gets out of school for the day, she finds her mother's car abandoned, the driver's side door wide open. It's an ominous sign, and Char thinks something bad has happened. Her...
The post You Are Not My Mother Review: This Irish Folklore Horror Pic Will Give You the Creeps [TIFF 2021] appeared first on /Film.
The post You Are Not My Mother Review: This Irish Folklore Horror Pic Will Give You the Creeps [TIFF 2021] appeared first on /Film.
- 9/17/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Despite leaving writer-director Kate Dolan’s feature debut You Are Not My Mother with a lot more questions than answers, I don’t think that reality is necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps if better-versed in Irish lore I’d be more familiar with the supernatural elements at play and, thus, less in the dark about the unspoken details the film doesn’t seem to realize it might need to share for better understanding. But it’s not as though knowing would add much beyond context. And if that’s all that’s missing, are we really losing anything? Not when our ignorance helps augment the feeling of anxiety permeating throughout. Perhaps Dolan omitted those answers on purpose. We’re to know things are happening without being chaperoned through each secret.
This decision to distance herself from those answers also ensures the plotline’s metaphor for mental illness remains alive despite...
This decision to distance herself from those answers also ensures the plotline’s metaphor for mental illness remains alive despite...
- 9/14/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Kate Dolan’s directorial debut is set around Halloween.
UK-based sales agency Bankside Films has boarded worldwide rights on horror You Are Not My Mother, the feature debut of writer-director Kate Dolan.
Currently in post-production, the film was funded through Screen Ireland’s Pov scheme, a production funding initiative for female filmmakers that looks to foster distinct Irish female voices.
You Are Not My Mother is produced by Deidre Levins and executive produced by Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell of Ireland’s Fantastic Films, as well as Screen Ireland’s Celine Haddad.
The film is inspired by the ancient mythology of the changeling,...
UK-based sales agency Bankside Films has boarded worldwide rights on horror You Are Not My Mother, the feature debut of writer-director Kate Dolan.
Currently in post-production, the film was funded through Screen Ireland’s Pov scheme, a production funding initiative for female filmmakers that looks to foster distinct Irish female voices.
You Are Not My Mother is produced by Deidre Levins and executive produced by Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell of Ireland’s Fantastic Films, as well as Screen Ireland’s Celine Haddad.
The film is inspired by the ancient mythology of the changeling,...
- 8/3/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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