It was the early days of the pandemic, I saw that Extra Ordinary was on Prime Video, and thought maybe I would give it a watch. And my God, I was so happy that I did, because it is so neat. And I mean that in every conceivable way: conceptually and structurally and emotionally. I think it's odd and it's awkward and loaded with charm. From the very get-go, it's clear that it's been made to appeal to those of us who have a fondness for a certain naughty three-letter word: VHS. I bet we all have a little bit of nostalgia for a 4:3 aspect ratio and CRT lines and a little snow. And I mean the kind of snow that can be fixed when you press the tracking button, not that other kind of snow that was very popular in the 80s.
But there is also a very subtle 80s flavor throughout the film. both in its seeming sense of innocence and in its humor, some of which is intentionally sophomoric. The 80s were obviously the 20th century heyday of the horror film. The magnetic video cassette tape allowed those horror films to proliferate. And the combination of those two ideas — though it is certainly not groundbreaking to traffic in 80s nostalgia in the horror genre — it makes you feel like you're in for a real treat from filmmakers who also clearly feel the love.
Extra Ordinary is among the most charming supernatural films that I've ever seen. I'm especially excited that we're talking about this movie tonight with the one and only Wendy MacLeod. Wendy wrote The House of Yes, which changed my life, like reading Charles Ludlum at 14 changed my life. The House of Yes is another entry on my short, short list of the most charming films I've ever seen. The House of Yes as a stage play and as a film is always a little devil on my shoulder. The House of Yes is so sophisticated and witty and more than a little bit evil. The House of Yes is the language that I wish my life were written in, in my best moments at the right parties with the right group of smirking Judases.
Extra Ordinary, I think, does a similar kind of thing to The House of Yes. It charms with its very strange and alien charms, but here it's with a kind of naivete, awkwardness, and kindness instead of sophistication and wit. In Extra Ordinary, the characters are all losers in the truest sense. They're mostly unlucky people. They've experienced loss. Everybody is looking for something. But I think it's a rare cinema experience that kind of makes me feel in every scene, if not every frame, compelled to either laugh out loud or get a little misty with truly happy tears. And there's something about Extra Ordinary that makes me feel like every take that made the final cut is a perfect first take, because the actors in this film bring an authentic, undeniable vulnerability to each performance that's palpable beyond the screen. And there's a chemistry among them that feels just as authentic. Even the Satanists in Extra Ordinary are hapless and affable. And the supporting cast with the smallest amount of screen time are all cast reliably and memorably with some character actor who obviously just loved playing the role.
To me, it feels a bit like an experiment in theme: how to make everything not only ordinary, but somehow extra ordinary. In this movie, an epic battle between good and evil is fought in the most low horsepower manner possible. Extra Ordinary mines the depths of the commonplace and still manages to come up with bucketfuls of weirdness. And it shows us that in coming together to save someone else, we just might save ourselves.
I think the acting is great. The cast is game and committed to the near surrealism of this strange comedy. Maeve Higgins' performance, I think, is literally perfect. She's so comfortable in her discomfort. I think Claudia O'Doherty is a scream. We truly care about the characters in this film.
I think the design is expert, especially Christian Winter's occult fantasy tax shelter castle. Martin Martin's house, decorated with a million unwanted, inexpertly built shop projects inside and outside the house are great. There's a gentle suffusing of a broadly 80s aesthetic through many of the rest of the design choices.
The cinematography is flawless and hilarious.
The jokes, whether they're visual or spoken, are subtle and, again, super weird and adolescent, but sometimes they're on like a Coen Brothers level — they're so small and detailed, and just completely delicious.
There is great editing, great music, and great sound design. It's got a Chekhov's magpie and about a thousand red herrings, or at least seven of them. And they're all viscous and in glass jars.
The genre references are many, and they're expertly utilized, both visually, like when Rose arrives at Martin Martin's and recreates Father Merrin's arrival at the McNeils’ in Georgetown from The Exorcist, and also textually, as in when Martin says “The Exorcist” to Rose, and she says, “I never met him.” And later he says, “Like in Ghostbusters,” and she says, “Oh, I haven't read that.”
I think also from a design point of view, I appreciate the consistent use of excellent typography throughout the whole movie. I think the graphic design of the driving school car is kind of like a pared-back Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. The phone number on the fin on the top of Rose's driving school car, which gets a beauty shot early on, does the old upside-down calculator trick in which it spells “boobless.”
Thinking about Extra Ordinary in the context of contemporary Irish horror movies, there’s one called Dead Meat from 2004 which is considered among the first Irish produced horror films. It occurred to me that many of the ones that i've seen, and truly enjoyed, are also really amusing and even kind of comical. Like Shrooms from 2007; Grabbers and Stitches, both from 2012; Boys from County Hell from 2020; and from 2021, Let the Wrong One In. I think the Irish eschew comedy for true horror, either supernatural or wrought by human beings, Here I'm thinking about The Hallow from 2015, The Devil's Doorway from 2018, or The Hole in the Ground from 2019. They all have a lot of heart. But Extra Ordinary has both in equal measure. And ultimately, instead of comparing it to one of its contemporaries from the Emerald Isle, I think I would compare it to something like Peter Jackson's The Frighteners, because like that film, Extra Ordinary is beautifully and very, very competently made.
To hear our take on Extra Ordinary, click here.
Bradford Louryk