Intensity: 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written and Directed by Tyler Savage
In Oddities, two young addicts flee from the scene of a crime and take shelter in a roadside antique store that they expected to be a refuge. It’s not. The shopkeeper is more than she seems. This film hides its cosmic-horror roots until well into the third act, but it builds tension tightly from the start. The movie overcomes some unlikeable protagonists by developing a clever, ever-evolving story. Adrienne Barbeau and Xander Berkeley add star power and gravitas that elevate the production.
The fugitive film is a thriller staple, filled with tropes that almost guarantee ratcheting tension. The cat-and-mouse game inherently gives the plot an instant hook. Consider No Country for Old Men, The Fugitive, Minority Report, Bonnie and Clyde, and Thelma and Louise – these road trips feature instant hide-and-seek moments. Key to those maneuvers is the concept of a safe harbor. How much can the refugee trust the offer of shelter? Often, characters on the run have to trust their survival instincts.
As often as this occurs in Thrillers, it is not a common trope in Horror. However, two very good examples of this theme exist. If you are looking for a comp for Oddities, look no further than Psycho. Marian Crane is on the run with a bag of money and checks into the Bates Motel, in what will be the worst decision she will ever make. Another reasonable comp is From Dusk Till Dawn, where a pair of criminals take refuge in the Titty Twister, only to find it overrun with vampires. No Bueno!
In Oddities, our protagonists have a habit of making TERRIBLE decisions. They find themselves on the run because of bad decisions in bad situations. Things look bleak, and then miraculously they are taken in… by a cult. Whoops. Let’s take a look at the cast:
The Cast of Oddities:
- Lilimar plays Rosie, a young woman with addiction issues, who is struggling to piece her life together.
- Lovie Simone plays MaKenna, Rosie’s free-spirited and hard-partying bestie and roommate.
- Lucas Fleisher plays Justin, whom Makenna has been dating, mostly to get access to cocaine.
- James Lee Thomas plays Eddie, Justin’s brother and local coke kingpin.
- Adrienne Barbeau plays Betty, an antiques and oddities shop owner
- Xander Berkeley plays William, Betty’s Husband, and owner of a nearby auto repair shop.
- Gunner Willis plays Francis, Betty’s hulking grandson, who does special tasks for Betty.
- Miguel Angel Garcia plays Danny, Rosie’s concerned brother.
- Will Oldham plays Officer Mills, a dirty cop
A Synopsis of Oddities:
It’s Rosie’s birthday. She returns to her apartment after her brother rebuffs her when she asks for money. Mack believes that, as a birthday treat, they should go to a party where Mackenna’s on-and-off boyfriend Justin may be able to hook them up with some drugs. When they arrive at the party, the girls split up. Mack goes with Justin to try to score some coke, while Rosie remains in the living room, where she is questioned by a suspicious Eddie.
When Justin makes a romantic move on Mack, she’s not interested. She just wants to get the coke, and he forces himself upon her. Rosie enters the bedroom and pushes Justin off of Mack, cracking his head on a bedpost. In a panic, the girls smother Justin to silence him, and they end up killing him in the process. They managed to trick the other partygoers into thinking they were having a threesome, and they managed to escape the party just as Eddie discovered his brother had been murdered.
The girls have stolen Justin’s car, convinced that the drug dealers won’t go to the cops. To their surprise, they find a brick of cocaine and a loaded pistol in the car. When a cop starts to tail them, Rosie makes a tactical decision to pull off the road at an antique and oddities shop out in the country. Betty comes out of the store and greets the strangers at her door like they were old friends. They have been rescued! Or… have they?
It’s a Trap!
Betty offers the girls some beverages and invites them to browse her wares. When Mack finds a cash register with a till full of cash, she can’t resist and tries to steal the money, pistol drawn. Rosie is stunned that they would betray their new savior, but Mack insists they need the money and should go. But the girls aren’t paying attention. Behind them, Francis sneaks up behind them and knocks out Mack, and then Rosie in quick succession.
When they awake, they are cuffed and in a barred cell in the basement. They are now prisoners, and this store is actually the home of a small rural cult. What’s more, Eddie and his crew have been tipped off by a crooked cop who had been trailing them. What do these cultists want? What else awaits them in the basement? Will the drug dealers be their saviors or their executioners? Mack and Rosie have blundered their way into an impossible situation.
Should you see Oddities?
Oddities is a well-constructed thriller that holds its cards tight. Going into this film at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, I knew there was going to be a cosmic horror twist coming, and it does not disappoint. It is difficult to root for Mackenna and Rosie, though. Their predicament is largely one of their own doing, and their bad decisions stack.
One: Don’t do drugs, kids. It ain’t good for ya, and those who sell them (at least in the movies) are vicious thugs who you definitely do not want to cross. Mack is playing Justin, and even if he is a thug, he’s got feelings, and she is playing with fire.
Two: Don’t steal from someone who just saved your hide. That’s not cool. Plus, they’re cultists.
Three: Don’t try to manipulate the cultists. Escape will do.
I ended up sympathizing with Betty and her cult. Sure, they worship things meant to be unknowable and blasphemous. But they aren’t wholly evil. Their circumstances for what they do are unfortunate. And these girls aren’t exactly innocent or pure. At the same time, this film isn’t constructed like House of 1000 Corpses, either. You aren’t rooting for bad things to happen to our protagonists, as flawed as they are. It’s complicated, and I appreciated that.
The Veteran Presence
Oddities benefits greatly from Adrienne Barbeau and Xander Berkeley. It’s no accident that I empathized with the villains in this movie. They give the story emotional heft, and you can feel the anguish these characters carry as they do what they have to do. They aren’t cackling mad scientists. Something happened to them that has forced this destiny upon them. Gunner Willis, who plays Francis, is as much a victim as he is a villain. He spends much of his time apologizing for doing what he’s doing, but he will knock skulls around if he has to. For an evil cultist, he’s a fairly sweet and dim variant.
Eddie and his crew are not sympathetic in the least, and they are sufficiently menacing. Tyler Savage and his practical effects team got to show off some imaginative and brutal kills. The pacing and editing of this film keep things moving, and before you know it, you will get some cool cosmic monster action. There is a big moment, though, where the CGI becomes a glaring uncanny valley moment. I applaud the effort, though.
I am always willing to get a closing apocalyptic monster scene, and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival always delivers on these moments. Housewife, The Daemon, Minore, and Strange Harvest: Occult Murders in the Inland Empire are all small-budget indie cosmic horror feature films that take that big swing at the end to give you a glimpse of the impossible in their final frames. Oddities joins this film fraternity. Welcome to Cosmic Horror 101.
Closing Thoughts
This is the kind of movie HPLFF does so well. Oddities started off as a short film proof of concept, also starring Barbeau. The Oddities store idea remains, and so does the cult, but the story’s meat changed. This is the short film idea’s graduation, fully realized. Brian and Gwen Callahan reward their short filmmakers with screenings of their alumni’s feature films. I covered this tradition in my roundtable with short filmmakers at the 2026 Portland Horror Film Festival.
Tyler Savage isn’t new to the industry. This is his third feature film. However, this is his most ambitious film to date, and launching a film like this at THIS festival is a perfect match. This was the US Premiere of Oddities, so it has just launched its film festival run. It’s a little unfortunate that its name closely resembles Oddity, our favorite horror film from 2024, so don’t get these films confused. They are both worth seeing.
Oddities is not rated, but it would certainly garner an R rating for drug use, gore, violence, and would have a sexual assault trigger warning. (Though Rosie put a stop to that action in a hurry.) This indie film has the star power and production values to punch above its weight class.
