Horror Movie News Report
Tyler Savage’s Oddities earns much of its praise from Adrienne Barbeau’s performance, according to Dread Central’s Frightfest review. The film casts Barbeau as Betty, the owner of a rural antique store whose apparent kindness toward two fugitives eventually gives way to something far more threatening.
The story follows Rose and Makenna, played by Lilimar and Lovie Simone, two struggling best friends whose lives change after Rose accidentally kills a man while intervening as he prepares to assault Makenna. The victim’s associates begin pursuing them, prompting the pair to flee in his stolen car and leave their town behind.
Their escape leads them to Betty’s store. She initially offers to protect the women from those chasing them, but later drugs them and locks them in the basement. From there, the film moves into a series of escapes, recaptures, and escalating confrontations as Rose and Makenna encounter dangers beyond the people searching for them.
Dread Central’s review describes Barbeau’s Betty as one of the film’s central strengths, noting the menace she brings to the role. The review also credits Lilimar and Simone with performances that preserve the characters’ humanity despite the increasingly extreme circumstances surrounding them. Gunner Willis is also singled out for his work as Francis.
The review identifies some unevenness in the film’s repeated cat-and-mouse structure, with the protagonists cycling through attempts to escape and being captured again. However, it says the film’s larger ambitions become clear in the third act, where trauma, religious psychosis, and large creatures combine in a more expansive horror set piece.
Dread Central characterizes Oddities as a hybrid of horror elements supported by strong performances, gore, and a substantial finale. While the review notes that the film may not have the visual or sound polish of more prominent genre productions, it considers Savage’s latest feature his most accomplished work to date and awards it a 3.0 rating.
