Review for Odd Thomas

Introduction

Dean Koontz has written a lot of books. And a surprising number of them have been adapted for the big screen, but you’ve probably not seen very many of them as they haven’t been all that successful or well received by cinema goers. The main exception to this would probably be 1977’s Demon Seed, which is probably the best known.



The latest adaptation is Odd Thomas, featuring a titular character who has a strange ability to see the dead. Odd is a short order cook, and he can follow the spirits of the dead, who can lead him to their killers. He can also see “bodachs”, supernatural creatures who appear when death and disaster are close by.

Odd then spots another strange man in town, who he nicknames "Fungus Man" and who is being followed around by loads of bodachs.

Video + Audio

Everything probably looks and sounds great, as with any modern film that’s only just escaped the clutches of the cinema. There’s probably nothing to complain about. The review disc was only a DVD-R so I don’t quite know what the final DVD will be like.

Extra Features

Nothing on my review disc…

Conclusion

I wasn't enthralled by the book, as it seemed to take an inordinate number of pages for things to happen as they were filled with so much description. Thankfully the film is much more punchy, but then that has come at a cost of the removal of some of the characters in the book. You keep waiting for them to appear, but they don’t.



The removal of the plodding description required something else to fill the void. Action set pieces take care of that and the story moves differently from the original book. I can’t decide whether it was better to have read the book first. I think perhaps not, as you keep looking out for things that you’ve half-remembered, and then trying to remember if that bit was in the book or not.

It’s an enjoyable supernatural/action film, set in a sleepy desert town. Some of the odder moments of the book have been exorcised to make it an easier story to film and that’s worked quite well. Anton Yelchin (you may recognise him as Chekov from the rebooted Star Trek series) makes a good Odd Thomas.



Well worth checking this one out if you're looking out for an entertaining slice of small town America fantasy/action.