Directed by: Stephen Sommers
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin, Ashley Sommers, Leonor Varela, Willem Dafoe, Patton Oswalt
Odd Thomas (Yelchin) may seem like an average young man living in an average small California town, but he possesses a unique gift: the ability to see the dead. Local Chief of Police Wyatt (Dafoe) is aware of Odd's, er...odd ability and the two work together to track down the killers of the wronged ghosts who approach Odd. As well as ghosts, Odd can also see "bodachs", malevolent spirits that kill anyone they discover has the ability to see them. When a mysterious stranger, who Odd nicknames "Fungus Man", arrives in town, he brings with him a huge number of bodachs. Odd, along with his girlfriend Stormy (Timlin) sets about investigating and soon discovers his town is in grave danger.
Thanks to a legal dispute between the film's financiers and its producers, 'Odd Thomas' is currently sitting on the shelf without a distribution deal in most territories, including North America, meaning the only way to see it right now is if it turns up at festivals like Horrorthon.
Adapted from a popular Dean R Koontz novel, which has spawned several sequels and prequels, the film tones down much of the source material's dark tone in favor of PG friendly adventure. As with his 'Mummy' movies and the much slated 'Van Helsing', writer-director Stephen Sommers again takes a horror concept and turns it into an overblown action romp.
'Odd Thomas' feels like a movie stuck in 1995. The snappy smartass dialogue reminds us of the awful Tarantino wannabe movies that were so prevalent in the latter half of the nineties and the visual aesthetic, like this year's equally bad 'RIPD', owes much to 'Men In Black'. It's a film that thinks it's a lot more clever than it actually is, full of annoying flashbacks and ludicrous exposition devices. Odd spends half the movie speaking to Stormy on the phone explaining the plot, simply because Sommers has no idea how to construct a screenplay with any kind of natural flow.
After 15 minutes I hated everything about this film and by the climax I had a pounding headache from listening to the awful constant dialogue, of which there is an unsufferable amount as well as a voiceover, just in case we may have missed any plot details. Thanks to its shelving, you may never get to see 'Odd Thomas' but that's probably a good thing.
2/10
Eric Hillis