Aahana Swrup
Hinging on a revenge plot ripe with dangerous criminality, ‘Red Right Hand,’ the action thriller film, features the story of a man’s past coming back to haunt him in the worst way possible. Cash left the life of crime behind him a while ago when he cut ties with Big Cat and her gang, who keep a tight leash over the southern town of Odim County. Nevertheless, the gang leader isn’t too keen on letting the man go and exploits his brother-in-law Finney’s vulnerability to entrap Cash into a deal. Consequently, as things worsen, it compels the reformed criminal to return to his old way to save his family, particularly his young niece, Savannah.
The story’s setting in a southern state remains evident due to its focus on farmlands and the southern twang in most characters’ accents. However, the specific location of Cash and his family’s residence in Odim County may raise viewers’ intrigue regarding the town’s basis in reality.
Odim County: A Fictional Town in Kentucky
‘Red Right Hand’ charts an entertaining story that revolves around a select few characters and their highly specified situation. Consequently, the film’s fictionality is inherent to its storyline. Similarly, the film’s fictional nature extends to its central town’s genesis, rendering Odim County one of its fabricated elements. The narrative itself remains laced with gangs, a preacher capable of violence, a corrupt sheriff, and one family-oriented, god-fearing protagonist. Thus, the story’s ties to Westerns become clear in everything but the genre. As a result, even though the film’s narrative is confined to a few characters, Odim County remains an instrumental part of the narrative.
Since Odim County isn’t a real town, its creation can be credited to the film’s screenwriter, Jonathan Easley, and directors, Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms, who fictionalized the place in service of the plot. Even so, one can connect the location to the real-life city of Campbellsburg from Henry County in Kentucky, which served as the filming location for several places that ended up creating the visual on-screen reality of Odim County. Therefore, many of the establishments that Odim County residents traverse in the film— from churches to bars— find their real-life counterparts in the Kentuckian city.
For instance, Jim Hubbs’ New Castle Tavern was one of the locations the filmmakers visited during filming. Furthermore, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office became the actual location for Odim County’s Sherrif Station, frequently featured in the film as a small town landmark. Reportedly, the filming crew designed sets within the real Sheriff’s Office to turn it into its on-screen counterpart, even replacing the logo with a new one made specifically for the fictional Odim County.
Nevertheless, outside of lending itself as the backdrop for the fictional town, Campbellsburg and Henry County hold no ties to Odim County. For instance, there’s no all-powerful gang helmed by a matriarch in the real-life town. Therefore, since Odim County’s landscape is hugely influenced by the corrupt criminality that permeates the city, significant parallels don’t exist between the two places. Ultimately, Odim County only retains a real-life town twin in terms of visualization. Thus, it remains a fictitious town confined within the narrative of ‘Red Right Hand.’
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