Odd Thomas - Blu-ray

Content: The English word Odd means something like strange, weird or odd. And that's true of Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin), a young diner cook. For Odd has the gift of being able to communicate with the dead and foresee great disaster. Whenever the creepy Bodachs show up, a bloody tragedy is not far away. The more of the ghostly monsters that show up, the worse the disaster becomes. When a strange man enters the fast food joint where Odd works, he quickly realizes that a very special disaster is threatening his hometown. Because with the stranger, more Bodachs show up in town than ever before. Together with his girlfriend Stormy (Addison Timlin) and Chief Porter (Willem Dafoe), two of the few people who know about his gift, Odd now tries everything to avert the disaster. But his enemy always seems to be one step ahead of him, and the bloodshed soon threatens to be unstoppable...

Odd Thomas is based on the novel The Adoration, the first book in the Odd Thomas series by horror specialist Dean Koontz. Stephen Sommers, known for effects-heavy big-budget productions such as The Mummy, Van Helsing, and G.I. Joe has brought this adaptation to life with relatively small means. While he was allowed to spend well over 150 million dollars on Van Helsing and G.I. Joe, Odd Thomas managed with just 27 million dollars. But even if some of the special effects do not meet the highest quality standards, the lower budget has not harmed the film in any way. On the contrary, instead of focusing primarily on the visuals and relying solely on computer effects, Sommers was able to pay a little more attention to the story and its characters here.

Admittedly, dramaturgy and character drawing have never been Sommers' strong points. But especially in comparison to his last films, which seemed to be soulless in terms of content, Odd Thomas is almost a quantum leap forward in terms of quality. On the one hand, this is certainly due to the thrilling book template, but on the other hand it's also due to the good actors Sommers has chosen. In addition, the mixture of sometimes surprisingly macabre humor, suspense and horror elements is absolutely coherent and makes the film despite its weaknesses a great pleasure. The small guest appearance of Sommers` regular actor Arnold Vosloo or a running gag about it, whereby Odd always disturbs Chief Porter with his calls, provide a few very amusing moments, while the story itself takes on rather dark tones especially towards the end and then can surprise with an amazingly emotional finale.

Surely Odd Thomas has some small weaknesses especially in terms of dramaturgy. But in terms of both visuals and general entertainment value, this novel adaptation is leaps and bounds superior to many a work that has made it into theaters this year. It's a pity that this really successful fantasy flick was kept under lock and key for quite some time due to a legal dispute and now only gets a rather small exploitation both in the US and internationally. It seems rather doubtful whether we will get to see any more Odd Thomas films like this. Be that as it may: who likes exciting and entertaining fantasy flicks with some humor and small horror interludes and who is also willing to overlook minor flaws, should not miss this home theater premiere in any case!

Picture + Sound: There is hardly anything to complain about here. The picture is absolutely clean and has a pleasing depth to it. The representation of details is still absolutely satisfactory even in the dark scenes and also the color scheme proves to be extremely atmospheric. When it comes to the audio, it's noticeable that the English soundtrack comes across as much more harmonious than the German DTS-HD MA mix, with dialogue in particular sounding a little muffled here and there. However, some good surround effects, through which a decent dynamic range is created, make up for this small shortcoming, at least in places. Overall, that's good enough for a more than satisfied: good!

Extras: Extras include a nearly 10-minute behind-the-scenes look at the film, consisting of uncommented B-roll footage, as well as three in-depth promo interviews with Addison Timlin (approx. 16:47 min.), Anton Yelchin (approx. 10:21 min.) and Willem Dafoe (approx. 12:39 min.). Also included are readings from the Odd Thomas novels Abyssal and Adoration, as well as the trailer for the film and other programming tips from the provider.

Conclusion:Odd Thomas is the film adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Adoration, which Stephen Sommers has very entertainingly adapted. The mixture of suspense, black humor and a little emotionality works really well, even if here and there in the effects the not really astronomically high budget is revealed and also Sommers himself now and then on a dramaturgical level can not deny his weaknesses as a director. Nevertheless, the fantasy adventure is entertaining, extremely enjoyable and also thanks to the good actors really worth seeing turned out, which is why there is also a clear recommendation for the technically very well implemented Blu-ray!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp