It's time for the Monster Mania countdown to get odd. Today's edition is all about the 2013 mystery horror film “Odd Thomas”. The film is based off of Dean Koontz’s novel of the same name. From my understanding the book and the film are quite similar with only a few minor differences. The film is written and directed by Stephen Summers. Sommers had worked on The Mummy series, Van Helsing, and most recently Rise of Cobra. Needless to say, Sommer's IMDB reads like a whose who of corny science fiction movies. That's why I was pleasantly surprised with “Odd Thomas”. The film stars Anton Yelchin as the lead Odd Thomas, Willem Dafoe as his father Wyatt, and Addison Timlin as Odd's girlfriend Stormy.
“Odd Thomas” is all about a teenager named Odd who has a special power. Odd has the power to see dead people. Not only can he see dead people, but he can also see demons. Instead of approaching this concept like “The Sixth Sense”, this film does the total opposite. It gets right to the point, tells you what is going on, and the action kicks off. Almost immediately we see that Odd uses his power to be a bit of a hero. He helps his detective father solve murders by communicating with some of these dead people. Not only does he help solve the mysteries, but he randomly opens a can of whoop ass on a few of these guilty parties. It definitely has a Scott Pilgrim feel when it comes to the action sequences and the dialogue between the characters. The film's tone however is a bit darker than Scott Pilgrim.
One downside to Odds powers is the demons that he can see. He refers to them as bodachs. These “bodachs” feed off of the negative energy produced by evil acts being committed. If someone dies, they want to feed off that dead person. Odd also realized that the bodachs were invisible to the rest of the world. So he has to pretend he does not see them. That's some serious concentration. The amount of bodachs in his town begins to increase, which leads Odd to think something's up. Odd is correct and there a lot of murder that's about to take place. It's up to Odd to solve the mystery and stop the event from happening. This leads to some pretty interesting ghost investigation stuff, along with some random fight scenes and horror scares. This movie is all over the place in terms of tone. You have some comedy, some Pilgrim-esque quirky dialogue, some fight sequences, and some serious horror scares. I would say it's on the same level as “Scream” in terms of handling multiple tones at once.
Anton Yelchin is very likable in the role of "Odd". I already liked the actor after his role in "Fright Night" and his fun version of Chekov in the new "Star Trek". The character is kind of like an apprehensive super hero. He didn't ask for this power, but the power chose him. Odd proves throughout the film that his level of commitment is high. The film balances the scooby doo mystery feel with a splash of real horror. There is a sequence where Odd and Stormy are trapped in a church being hunted by a ghost and it's quite intense. You really get a sense of darkness in the character's world, despite the comical style of the dialogue.
Overall I found “Odd Thomas” to be a pleasant surprise, with a dark underlying theme. The film deals with some dark subject matter, but in a very light way. I really felt myself caring about the characters. The relationship Odd has with his father, and his girlfriend seem incredibly genuine. The actors all really mesh well and feel like real people.
Addison Timlin is intoxicatingly cute in the film. She does a superb job playing the supportive girlfriend that Odd really needs. She also has lots of quick comedy and fun dialogue with Odd's dad. I think she was cast perfectly in the role. Willem Dafoe is great as always, tho it left me wanting to see more of him. Gugu Mbatha-Raw also stars as Viola Peabody, a good friend of Odds. She doesn't have much to do in the film, but it's always nice to see her pop up. We also get a creepy performance out of Nico Tortorella who plays a cop in the film. He played a villain in "The Following" and I thought he brought a lot of the same creepiness to the table in this one.
I'd love to see a sequel to the film or a series based on the film. Odd could easily go on more ghost adventures. I'm hoping to read the book at some point just to see more of this character. There is also some graphic novels based on the character that I may track down. I highly recommend this film. It's not exactly a Halloween horror film, but it's a cool unique take on ghosts that will leave you entertained.
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