By Sydney Schabacker
Staff Writer
It’s almost Halloween, when many of us may have a chance to see ghosts and goblins and spirits of old walking amongst us. But for short-order cook Odd Thomas, he sees the dead every day of the year.
Blessed or cursed with clairvoyance, Odd lives a fraught life. When he’s not helping Police Chief Wyatt Porter catch murderers, he keeps a low profile so that the creepy, fear-feeding, pain-portending bodachs don’t figure out that he can see them. If they suspected Odd’s gifts, that’s a death sentence. When a man walks into the restaurant crawling with more bodachs than Odd has ever seen before, it takes everything he can do to keep cooking up orders and not reveal his awareness. Partnered with his quick-witted girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn, Odd races against time to track down “Fungus Bob” Robertson who is the eye in that storm of bodachs. If they don’t succeed, dark forces will overwhelm the town.
Based on Dean Koontz’s best selling thriller, the movie adaptation from 2013 runs 97 minutes. Fast paced and clever, “Odd Thomas” has a lot of promise. It’s an intriguing mystery with moments that will make you laugh out loud. The movie stars the talented Anton Yelchin who is best known for his portrayal of Chekov in the recent Star Trek movies and also known as Charlie Bartlett from “Charlie Bartlett.” With that kind of acting talent, you’d think that nothing could go wrong and it doesn’t for the first quirky and enjoyable hour.
It’s better than average as a supernatural, comedy/mystery, but the movie sets itself up as a completely charming romance as well. To skirt a spoiler, we’ll just let you know that there is a common plot twist that allows the male character to avoid any relationship maintenance and in short, fails the romance angle. Some Dean Koontz readers forgave that plot twist are ongoing Odd Thomas fans, which might mean another movie one of these days. I may be too mad to watch another one, which is a shame because “Odd Thomas” started off so great. You decide, but for me it’s two out of five paws.