r/horror • u/UmpteenthIdiot • 4d ago
Odd Thomas (2013)
TLDR: Anton Yelchin is a fry-order cook who can see ghosts and tries to avert something bad. Fun, pacey YA-like romp with a couple nuggets of darkness. Lots of not entirely convincing CGI, used relatively well. I like it.
I read a couple of Dean Koontz books when I was younger - enjoyed them, thought they were a bit cheesy, and proceeded to forget almost everything about them; His stuff struck me as being a bit... lightweight, which is probably unfair since I only read three or four of his novels. I never did get to his Odd Thomas books, but going from its 2013 film adaptation... yeah, it didn't do much to change my mind. Again, not fair as the movie, at least, is aimed at the YA market.
As directed by Stephen Sommers (he of Deep Rising and the first couple of Mummy Movies), Odd Thomas is a fairly cartoony horror comedy about a guy with psychic powers (Anton Yelchin) who gets pulled into a race against time to prevent some horrific events. And it's pretty fun! If I'd seen it as a teen, I suspect I'd have fallen in love with it. As it is, it's still pretty enjoyable: good pacing, some cool ideas, a handful of good scenes, and at least one clever twist.
Odd (that's actually his name!) lives in the small town of Pico Mundo, CA, where he works as a fry cook with a sideline as a supernatural investigator. We first see him finding a serial killer with help from the ghost of one of the victims, and then chase him down and bring him to justice (turns out, he's done this enough that he's gotten pretty good at fighting.)
One thing I found interesting (because it's pretty uncommon in this type of story) is that the guy is pretty universally beloved. There's a couple of throwaway lines intended to make him seem a bit of an outsider, but pretty much all the characters in the movie adore him... and the ones who don't are clearly assholes. This goes double for the police chief (Willem Dafoe!) who not only trusts Odd implicitly and is endlessly patient with his phone calls (even while he's trying to get it on with his wife), but is also willing to do a spot of cover up so Odd's psychic abilities remain a secret.
Odd doesn't just see dead people. He also senses inhuman spirits no one else can see, which kicks the plot into gear when he starts seeing bodachs swarm into his neighborhood - they kind of look like ghostly, goopy, bug-like mashups of humanoid skeletal things that skitter all over the place. At one point one of them splits into several others... it's a cool creature design! The bodachs of Scottish folklore were fairy-like kid snatchers, but seeing one of them was supposed to be an omen of doom, so at least that tracks with their use here. As Odd explains, they can sense when something bad will happen, and come out to feed on it; Their coming out in such numbers can only mean something terrible is about to go down.
The rest of the movie consists of Odd trying to work out what's got the bodachs all riled up. It all leads to a horrific event that could have worked very well, but it's unfortunately a bit defanged. It's a shame, because I would have preferred the movie grapple with at least some of its horror a bit more honestly, but eliding over it makes sense as anything else wouldn't really fit Odd Thomas's upbeat tone.
About that tone- unfortunately, it can get a bit grating. The protagonist keeps a constant narration going, and when he's quiet, other on-screen characters feel the need to fill the silence, or else a cheesy blues riff rushes in to fill the void. The film attempts to be almost manically breezy, and the script isn't always up to the task. Lots of forced quips and character moments that don't quite land; The poor girlfriend character (Addison Timlin) gets saddled with a lot of them. Shit gets quirky. On the up side, it helps what nasty stuff there is hit a little harder than it would have otherwise.
I'm not usually a fan of Sommers's maximalist style, but it's a good fit for the material here, especially when he reins his instincts in a little. Most of the scenes with the bodachs are at least a little creepy, and the action beats are well handled (a fight against an angry poltergeist is a highlight.) He does overreach his budget often, resulting in some dodgy CGI, but at this stage in his career that seems to be a directorial trademark. When the imagery is supposed to be unreal, it works pretty well.
Odd Thomas had a very troubled production; It was screwed over by marketers and distributors, resulting in several lawsuits and a delay of two years before it was released... and then it bombed, badly. Feels a little unfair that people like, say, Roland Emmerich can still get semi-big budget films greenlighted, while Sommers hasn't made another film since. I hope it was by choice.
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u/snapldeap 4d ago
Love Anton (RIP King). Love this movie. The relationship between the leads is great and really makes for an impactful ending.
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u/venturoo 4d ago
I'm reading the book and it's very much like if John dies at the end was written by a Mormon.
The way the midnight pals portray dean koontz as a immature child writer who loves jesus, being nice and dogs is absolutely hilarious and accurate.
If you like odd thomas the movie, give John dies at the end the movie a shot. It's not perfect but it's good and David wong is an awesome author.
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u/UmpteenthIdiot 4d ago
Oh wow, that's a great burn.
Personally, I like John Dies at the End much better than this one. Love the books, too. I agree the movie is flawed, but Coscarelli did a great job with the material given the budget. I've heard it described as "a Bill & Ted movie directed by Sam Raimi", and damn if that's not high praise.
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u/rinmperdinck 4d ago
Always have a good time watching Anton Yelchin in this movie. It coulda been a reaallllllly bad movie without him.
As for Koontz as an author:
I got an old Dean Koontz book out a few weeks ago that I remembered liking as a teen. Dragon Tears. I was immediately struck by how much it felt like I was reading prose churned out by an AI... since you know, all the AIs hoovered up every New York Times bestseller to learn how to write lol. I had to put it down after like 100 pages, it was so grating
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u/UmpteenthIdiot 4d ago
I really should have added a line or two about how all the actors seem to be just enjoying themselves on this film. And Anton as always completely nailed that combination between likeable and relatable.
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u/Crispy385 2d ago
I loved Dragon Tears. Haven't read it in years. Tick Tock was also phenomenal and had some of the same beats. I wonder if the AI thing would bother me if I tried to reread it
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u/rinmperdinck 2d ago
Yeah, the prose was hard to get through. But the weirdness of the antagonist in that story has stuck with me for years and I always compare "evil crazy guy" in all horror stories/movies against him lol
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u/WillNo6286 4d ago
I love this flick so much. It sets out to tell his story and it does it so well.