Oddity Review & Interview with Amber Victoria from The Skeleton Key Odditorium

Horror Movie Talk

Synopsis Oddity is a morality tale about why you shouldn’t cross witchy women. When a blind woman’s sister is murdered in a remote country estate, she uses her arcane knowledge and abilities to uncover the true identity of her murderer. Review of Oddity I really liked this movie. It came under the radar and we almost didn’t review it, but I’m glad we did, because I think I actually did like this one better than Longlegs. The film starts out basically with a prologue of what you see in the trailer, and acts as a really taut short film. A Woman answers the door to a creepy one eyed man that says that she’s not safe inside and needs to let him in. We are given just enough information to make this situation plausible and build dread. That is a common thread through the film. We are given just enough information to constantly be uneasy and uncertain throughout the whole film. It really is structurally impressive, plot-wise. There isn’t a ton of character development, but there is a constant stream of revelations and situations that keep the film engaging. One criticism may be that there isn’t much of an emotional element in the film, the characters all seem very cold. However, each character has enough of a personality and backstory to make their interactions and decisions interesting. There are several moments and lines that had me laughing out loud, including the ending. There were also some really effective jumpscares. On the surface, this movie utilizes a lot of tropes that are crutches for a lot of supernatural horror movies. The spooky dark house. The strange sounds in the darkness. Stretches of tense silence leading up to jump scares. But for some reason, instead of rolling my eyes, I was truly engaged with this movie. I think it's because all of the reality-based elements seem plausible, and all the supernatural elements seem interesting or novel. I think it’s a great movie, and honestly I don’t have any real criticisms or anything that bothered me with it. Score 10/10 Interview with Amber Victoria from The Skeleton Key Odditorium Bryce: Today, we welcome Amber Victoria, owner and operator of the Skeleton Key Auditorium Museum and Oddity Shop in Portland, Oregon. It's a retail shop that specializes in oddities, antiques, curiosities, Gothic art, gifts, crystals, tarot cards, dolls, metaphysical items, clothing, and souvenirs. The auditorium is a historical museum designed to provide intrigue and a better understanding of the human experience through exploring the strange, unusual, and gloomy characteristics of our history. It was recently voted as the runner-up for Portland's Best Museum, just underneath the multi-million dollar Portland Art Museum and OMSI. So, it's pretty high praise for a museum. Anyways, welcome, Amber Victoria! Sydney: Welcome! Amber: Hello. Yay, thank you. Thank you for having me. Bryce: So, Amber, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you got started? What's the story with you and the Skeleton Key? Amber: Well, it kind of started almost 10 years ago. I've always loved old things and was more of a Ren fair kind of person. I was doing immersion events and collected a lot of odd things. Eventually, I started collecting too much stuff, so I began selling items at Curiosities Vintage Mall about nine years ago. It just evolved from there. People really liked my odd things, so I decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop in 2020. And here we are, still doing it. Bryce: So, when did you open the brick-and-mortar shop? Amber: I opened it in 2020 on Belmont. It was a small oddity shop, about 600 square feet. When the lease was up, we moved downtown, and I brought my partner along. We decided to open a museum because there was so much knowledge and so many items. People were always asking questions, and we wanted to educate and preserve these items in a fun, interactive space full of oddities. Bryce: Awesome.