Hello everyone, and welcome back to another great Marvelous Videos video. The character of Odd Thomas will be discussed in today’s video. Why is it that everyone thinks he is a strange man? What is it about him that sets him apart from the rest of the crowd?
Odd Thomas was published in 2013, and it is based on Dean Koontz’s novel of the same name. It is, in fact, the first book in a series. You would expect that, like the majority of literary adaptations, this one would have entirely cut the original. However, this is not the case. As the film progresses, Odd Thomas has stayed true to the novel. Of course, the film’s runtime necessitates the occasional darkening of some characters and incidents from the novel. Nonetheless, as far as horror adaptations go, this is one of the better ones.
Can you guess who directed this movie? We are all familiar with his brilliance and renown thanks to films such as The Mummy, G.I. Joe, and Van Helsing. That is true, it is none other than Stephen Sommers himself. Now there is no doubt that this film will be another masterpiece from him. He does an incredible job capturing all of the horror and mystery in the picture.
Odd Thomas revolves around a character named Odd. Call it luck or coincidence, but he does a lot of strange things as well. So, basically, he possesses a wide range of psychic abilities, which he employs to the benefit of his hometown. Sure, we can refer to him as the town’s savior, or as the superhero that he is. But living with such powers is not always simple for him, and it is certainly not always pleasant and good for him.
Anton Yelchin, the excellent actor who played Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek franchise, starred in the film as our very own Odd Thomas. Anton Yelchin tragically died in a car accident in his driveway in 2016, which was bad news for the film business. Rest in peace, he was a good man. He was, without a doubt, a fantastic actor. He has done such an excellent job portraying Odd Thomas that you will believe he was destined for this part. He reminds me of Odd Thomas.
Odd Thomas’ narrative is about a guy who lives in a tiny town and has incredibly helpful psychic abilities. How will he be able to save his town from the impending horror? So, let us see what happens!
When Evil Comes to Town, He Is the Only One Who Can Stop It – Odd Thomas
The film begins in the small town of Pico Mundo, in California. Odd Thomas talks about his abilities. It seems like he was born with them. It is sort of like a generational power for him because even his mom had psychic powers, but she kind of went rogue with them and so Odd’s dad had to get her locked up and sent away. Now, of course, Odd doesn’t want the same fate to befall him, which is why he never told his parents that he has these abilities.
An interesting fact is that, in the novel, Odd’s mother does not have any abilities but they show it in the movie anyway. We get to see Odd’s abilities for the first time when the ghost of a girl appears in front of him, asking him for help to get her justice. That is right, he can see ghosts, but these ghosts can’t talk. So, the ghost takes Odd to her murderer and after getting in a fight with that guy, Odd has him arrested. It is good to know that the police chief, Wyatt Porter, who is played by the amazing Willem Dafoe, is on Odd’s side because he is aware of Odd’s powers, and looks like he has always helped the Chief in solving crimes. And guess what, before casting Willem Dafoe, Tim Robbins was actually considered for the role of Chief Wyatt Porter.
Well, as it turns out, solving crimes is like a side job for Odd because he works as a short-order cook in a diner. Other than the chief, the only person who knows about his abilities is his girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn. This is a love story you are not going to get enough of. Addison Timlin plays the role of Stormy, but they had first considered Lily Collins for the role, who dropped out in favor of Mirror Mirror (2012).
The major twist in the movie happens when Odd has a really scary dream that a lot of faceless people wearing the bowling alley uniform get shot by a faceless guy, and to top it all, even Odd gets shot. Well, it sure is scary because Odd’s dreams often end up pointing towards reality. There is a creature in the film that makes an entrance. Odd calls them ‘Bodachs’. These are invisible creatures who feed on evil, and linger around where some pretty great danger is about to befall. Only Odd can see them, and although these creatures don’t really do anything, if they find out that you can see them, they will kill you.
So, when a strange guy, Robert Robertson, walks into Odd’s diner, he brings along with him a lot of Bodachs, and Odd has definitely not seen so many of them together before. Odd and Stormy call him Fungus Bob, and they try to find out the deal with this man. Before we find out anything concrete, Fungus Bob suddenly tries to crash Odd and Stormy’s romantic date and looks like he is after Odd for some reason.
Well, Odd being odd, soon figures out that Fungus Bob is connected to that mass shooting from his dream, which is about to take place at the Green Moon Mall. And it was actually Bob’s ghost that ruined their date. With a lot more discovery, Odd finds a lot of satanic websites on Bob’s computer along with different body parts in his fridge and samples of explosives. Yeah, that is definitely going to make you want to puke.
He then finds a tattoo mark on Bob’s wound that reads POD. It is the same tattoo that the police officer, Varner, also had on his hand. And guess what POD means- the Prince of Darkness. So, looks like Bob was working along with these police officers for the major blast that is yet to happen. After reaching the mall, we see that Officer Eckles has murdered the security staff. In the middle of the shooting inside the mall, Odd manages to kill the shooter but looks like Stormy might be dead. We do see her standing up later, but is she alive or is Odd seeing her ghost?
Remember Bob was planning on blowing up the mall? Well, Odd finds the truck that has a lot of explosives in it. He manages to get the truck out of the mall, but Officer Varner shoots him. We already knew he was going to be a hero, so he went on to drive that truck far away to an isolated location. Trapping Varner inside, he jumps out just in time when the truck explodes. And the small-town guy with psychic powers saves the day.
When Odd walks out of the hospital, he is a local hero and there is a whole crowd standing outside with signs cheering him. One of the signs says “In Odd We Trust”, which is actually a graphic novel in the book series.
Well, the film ends with Odd finally realizing that Stormy actually died in the mall shooting, and ever since, he has just been with her spirit. A sad love story ending indeed, but it sure made the film even more fantastic. Now, let us find out what exactly are these abilities that Odd Thomas lives with, and what’s up with the Bodachs.
Odd Thomas Psychic Power and Bodachs Slaves of Satan
The first and the biggest of Odd’s interesting psychic powers is that he can see dead people. They can’t physically harm him of course or talk to him, but they are only visible to Odd Thomas. It looks like all the lost spirits know that if they want justice and peace, Odd Thomas is the guy to go to. There are different kinds of ghosts Odd meets throughout his life.
Like the little girl Penny, not every ghost seems to be after revenge. In the movie, we see Tom Jed, Odd’s little league coach, whose ghost always seems to be hanging around Tire World. That place was not even connected to his death and he just tries to get a laugh out of Odd. There we have it, strange ghosts indeed.
Even though Odd can’t talk to these spirits, it looks like due to his psychic intuition, he is still able to communicate with them without words. That is how he discovers their stories and helps them rest in peace. There is also an interesting detail related to the dreams he has. His dreams often seem to be connected to his psychic abilities and they are like visions; they tell him things that are about to happen.
Yeah, that is a totally cool power to have!
Oh, but the most interesting psychic power that he has is what his girlfriend Stormy likes to call “Psychic Magnetism”. It basically helps him find whomever he is looking for, even if he doesn’t know anything about that person. He lets his instincts take control over him and then he is drawn towards the place where that person is. It definitely came in handy for Odd when he was trying to find Fungus Bob.
But there is also a downside to this ability. If Odd was consciously trying to avoid a certain person, he would still be automatically drawn to that person. He doesn’t have much of an option there. So, looks like even though he can control some of his abilities, others certainly seem to be controlling him.
We know that our hero always tries to put all of his wonderful psychic powers to good use. That is how you become Odd Thomas, very true to his name. A rather dangerous power he has is being able to see creatures known as the Bodachs. But what exactly are these Bodachs that hover around certain people?
Technically, they are a kind of liquid-shaped creatures that don’t really have any substance. Something interesting here is that Bodach is actually an old Scottish term for a “bogeyman”. And as most of you would know, a bogeyman is like a Boggart, a type of household spirit or goblin. But guess what, a Bodach is not just any ordinary goblin, they are attracted to death, like omens of death.
Whenever Odd sees a Bodach around a person, it is an indication that death is definitely next on the destiny line for that person. So basically, the Bodachs are mythological creatures who come from Scottish or Gaelic folklore. They are said to be tricksters and evil vindictive beings, similar to bogeymen or bugbears. That could be true since we saw in the film that all the Bodachs that Odd kept seeing around Fungus Bob were actually misleading him, so they knew that Odd could see them.
According to Scottish folklore, the Bodach hunts down naughty and bad children from their homes, entering and leaving through the chimney. The Bodach might also give children nightmares but could not cross a line of salt. So, if you ever find yourself being followed by one of these creatures, make sure to find some salt. You might have a bit of bad luck though, because as Odd says, nobody other than him can see the Bodachs. And guess what, they are scarier because if they find out that you can see them, they will make sure to kill you one way or the other.
There is also apparently another interesting story of Bodachs connected with the tombstone of Seath Mór Sgorfhiaclach, which is located somewhere in the Doune of Rothiemurchus. That grave is said to be haunted by a Bodach of the Doune, who is linked to the five stones lying on top of the grave. These stones are thought to be cursed, and anyone who touches them is said to be killed by the Bodach.
In fact, several people who have touched the stones ended up dead soon after. That was definitely due to the Bodach. In order to prevent that from happening, an iron grate was constructed on top of the stones, hiding them underneath so that no one can touch or remove them and end up having to face the wrath of the Bodach.
Well, now we know everything about the strange psychic abilities of Odd Thomas and the not so friendly invisible creatures, the Bodachs. The film indeed is a beautifully tragic watch. It has a lot of mystery that will have you hooked to your seat until the very end. Oh, and once thousands of Bodachs start crawling the streets of Pico Mundo, it will leave you terrified. Stephen Sommers has definitely done a wonderful job with this mixture of horror, mystery and thriller stitched up together with the story of Odd Thomas.
With that, we come to the end of another amazing video. We hope you enjoyed watching it. Make sure to drop a like and hit the subscribe button on your way out. Until then, stay safe and have a great day!