Based on a successful series of books from author Dean Koontz (which I've never read), Anton Yelchin stars as Odd Thomas--a young short-order cook who has clairvoyant abilities that enables him to see the dead and malevolent creatures known as "Bodachs" that seem to hover around people that intend to do harm or die imminent or unusual deaths. It seems like just another day for Odd until he spots more than the usual number of Bodachs surrounding a strange man. Upon further investigation he learns that the man intends to cause some sort of mass murder and it's up to Odd to stop him before their little town is rocked by a great tragedy.

Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) wrote and directed this flick, which I found surprisingly well paced and entertaining and I really dug the Odd character right from the start. This is more of a smaller budgeted film than what Sommers is used to doing, but he pulled off the job fairly well. Of course that's also due in part to the source material. However as stated above I've never read any of the books, so I sadly can't compare the two mediums. The effects (especially for the Bodachs) were above average, but it's the film's storyline and mystery surrounding it that kept me glued to the screen.

The flick offers some minor comedic aspects that don't always work, but at least serve to keep the tone fun and not too serious until deemed necessary. Willem Dafoe's character as the police chief felt a little wasted and underused, but aside from that and the last 10/15-minutes (which I thought seemed a little out of place) I didn't really have many problems with the movie and would welcome a sequel if one was ever made. There's a lot of potential with this Odd character, plus there are a slew of other books from the series that they can borrow from anyway.

Coming from someone who hasn't read the books, Odd Thomas is a fun flick that doesn't take itself too seriously, but at the same time offers an interesting story and some decent effects. I wanted an entertaining genre flick and that's exactly what I got.