Odd Thomas

Stephen King is, perhaps, the most popular American horror writer there is. He’s been writing for decades, has written dozens of books and sold millions of copies, with many of his hits ingraining themselves into popular culture, mostly through their film adaptations. Even if I don’t like his writing itself (I find it really weak) his ideas are interesting and lend themselves to some really good film adaptations. Even if you haven’t read the books, almost everybody gets references from The Shining, Carrie, IT, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Children of the Corn, even Stand By Me. His books have made the transition to film really well, giving filmmakers rich material to work with. There are over fifty Stephen King books, and over fifty movies based on Stephen King books and I’d wager you’ve seen a fair few of them.  

Dean Koontz is also an American horror writer. He’s also been writing for decades, and has also written dozens of books and sold millions of copies. But can anybody really name any of them? Would anybody get a reference from any of his books? It’s likely not. I’ve never read a Dean Koontz book, but I’ve also never heard anything about any of them, neither good nor bad. I’ve seen dozens of copies of his books in second hand bookstores, but I’ve never met anybody who has ever read any of them. Some of his books, surprisingly, have been transitioned into movies, but none that anybody knows, nothing that caught anybody’s interest. There are over fifty Dean Koontz books, but only about a dozen movies based on Dean Koontz books, and I’d wager you’ve never seen any of them.

Well, flying completely under everybody’s radar, a new movie based on a Dean Koontz book (and it’s, from what I can gather, the seminal Dean Koontz book) has been made. Odd Thomas, directed by, of all people, Stephen Sommers, he behind big, dumb blockbusters like the first two Brendan Frasier Mummy movies, the first GI Joe movie and Van Helsing, and also Deep Rising, the best giant killer octopus movie you’ll ever see. Sommers mostly excelled in directing big budget, family friendly action fare, so it’s odd to see him behind a low budget murder/supernatural detective film.

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Odd Thomas is a weird movie. I guess it’s sort of meant as a fun, quirky, supernatural detective story. And while it has those elements none of them really work.

Odd Thomas, our hero, is a short-order cook who can see ghosts and is psychic. Along with his enthusiastic girlfriend Stormy, Odd uses his powers to help the local police chief hunt down killers and prevent crimes. Apart from the spirits of the dead, Odd can also see ‘Bodachs, demonic beings that feed off of suffering and appear before scenes of death. When Odd sees a sleazy man swarming with Bodachs he feels that something horrible is going to happen soon and it’s up to him to stop it.

Bodachs have a tendency to murder anybody that can see him, so Odd has to pretend he can’t see them, leading to a fair few ‘comedy’ scenes of Odd pretending not to see the shoddily designed wispy skeletal ghost monsters that look like exhaust fumes as they swarm around him and his girlfriend. Of course whenever he does see them (which is constantly) they never really seem to hurt him, only clinging to him to slow him down.

The quirk factor is high, to an almost overwhelming degree. The supernatural aspects are also all over the place. While Odd can see ghosts, he can’t hear them (but seems to perfectly understand what they’re saying anyway). He has psychic dreams and can also see visions by touching people (something that, immensely helpful, he only does once when the story calls for it). He also has ‘psychic magnetism’, which basically means that if he wanders aimlessly around he’ll eventually find clues. Oh, and Odd actually is his first name. Because he wasn’t quirky enough, right? 

It’s just an odd (I don’t mean to keep using that word) movie that doesn’t really work. Odd himself has an internal monologue, which is just used to explain to the audience what just happened in really obvious ways. Any twist, turn or clue is pointed out in this ridiculous fashion, and the writing itself is laughable ('The bodachs are manipulating me?' Odd mutters at one point with odd emphasis) . The motivations behind the villains’ evil plan is so stupidly basic that it hurts. It transcends stupidity to become a sort of ‘they’re just evil’ explanation. The epilogue is also strange, taking a bizarre sombre turn (and dragging out an obvious twist that everybody in the audience would have seen a mile away) leading to something of a sequel hook (Odd goes to Vegas?).  

The acting is all over the shop. Anton Yelchin does ok as Odd, sticking to the brief I guess. He’s quirky enough, but doesn’t quite pull off the ‘pancake-chef that can beat down murderers’ part of the character when the brief action scenes play out. He basically fails at making this odd character believable. The rest of the cast aren’t so great, most filling their limited roles. Strangely Willem Dafoe plays a Sheriff who works together with Odd, but in most of his scenes he’s making out with his wife, and his presence is ultimately irrelevant to the plot.

Compared to Sommers’ other movies, Odd Thomas is a bizarre, drastic change, and without the big budget to pull off the ridiculous set pieces he’s known for (GI Joe had a massive naval battle in an underwater secret base in the freaking Antarctic, Odd Thomas has a chase scene). Odd Thomas is a small movie with a seemingly weak source material, and never manages to be more than a middling detective movie with hazy supernatural elements.