Remember that stuffed animal that you had as a child that gave you the creeps? Usually it was a clown or…cabbage patch kid. Kodie takes that fear to a new level, when then the main villain is literally a teddy bear…I think, but I’ll get to that later. It’s interesting to me that the director, Abel Berry, chose to play off this fear as the basis of this independent feature. In reality, it depends how deeply you can relate to this theme that determines how scared you will be while watching Kodie. In my case, there wasn’t too much childhood fright left over, and the whole teddy bear thing was a little silly.
Kodie is about a witch who curses a little girl into the body of her teddy bear. The goal of the little girl/teddy bear is to lay waste to anyone in the town who has an unclean heart. Enter David, a paranormal investigator, who also has a lot of life problems. Along with a team of other investigators, they decent on the house that was once a crime scene of one of Kodie’s brutal slayings. What they think will be an easy night, spent poking into the depths of the supernatural, will end up being one they’ll never forget – and one most of them won’t survive.
Now, by all means Kodie is not a cinematic masterpiece. The lighting has a very independent feel. The sound, especially the dialogue, doesn’t always match up with the mouths speaking. The gore scenes are done poorly, yet they do contain a lot of good bloody shots. All those things aside, what Kodie does have is a ton of fun. It’s one of those films that you watch because it’s fun, not because you’re expecting Star Wars. It’s up to par with one of the Sleepaway Camp films. Both films aren’t great production wise, but the fun and silliness draw viewers in.
I did take a few notes during my viewing. First of all, the opening scene with the young man huddles in the corner – the special effects make up on him were not very believable. However, the pile of bodies that the sheriff discovers are very well done. I should really give Kodie props for having good special effects make up for the most part. Secondly, one of the main characters has a very striking appearance, both visually and vocally, to Elliot Yamin. All the other points I wrote down I already addressed in the paragraphs above.
So, where does this leave Kodie? Should you see it? Should you pass? I don’t know. I mentioned the creep factor above. I think the creepiest thing about Kodie is that in some scenes Kodie is literally a girl in a bear costume. There’s just something freaky about a girl wearing a bear costume and holding a scythe. I was confused for the longest time whether it was really a girl in costume or if that was just the easiest way to portray Kodie without having to use wires or stop motion. Anyway, eeehhhhhh….I’d say give Kodie a watch, but only if you’re drinking with some buddies.
