The Echo

The Montreal screening was a testament of how good this movie is. OMG! This is really really scary. Slow in some parts but it totally brings the mood. The scares will stay with you even after you've left the cinema. Jesse Bradford showed some real acting chops and his character is so believable. The Echo is not your usual shrieks and screams. In fact the movie is very quiet. That is why it is so effective - you don't know when the scares will happen. The realistic treatment of domestic violence added to the horror of the story. If you like Rosemary's Baby or The Sixth Sense, then this is the perfect film for you. The movie is above par compared to most SCARY movies out there and I would say that this will be a cult hit. It's so sad that it's not picked up yet by North American distributors. Too bad for my friends in the west coast! I hope this gets released soon. The director is someone to watch out for. Très bon !

I'll say something for The Echo... it'll keep you guessing about what the heck is going on. This feeling doesn't subside over the ending credits, BTW.

After a very s-l-o-w beginning (a few more impatient people may give up by then) of a guy wondering around a crappy apartment building not doing very much else, we finally get to the meat of the action. This involves the dude witnessing a vicious assault on the lady next door by her thug of a husband.

What complicates things is that the hubby is a cop, and the guy is a freshly released ex-con, and we think this'll cause the central conflict: should the dude report the abusive husband to the police, and risk getting himself sent down again by corrupt officers? After all, the couple do a have a (somewhat creepy) little girl as well to consider the safety of...

Nothing like as simple. He discovers later that the apartment next door has been abandoned for years and is in a state of complete disrepair, so the guy reaches the not impossible conclusion he might be going crazy. That is, until his girlfriend visits him, and starts experiencing strange visions herself...

The middle section of The Echo is it's strongest suite, with a tangible sense of suspense lingering in the air. Nervous tenants at the block reveal horrible secrets about the past, ghoulish hallucinations pop out of nowhere and the meandering film finally starts to develop a true sense of purpose.

That is, until the finale... which is big on sound and fury but offers little in the way of proper explanation. I THINK I got it after a bit of thought, but the confused ending also raises more questions than it answers.

Like, how the... oops, I don't want to go into a lot of detail. Spoilers, and all that. Just ask yourself one question afterwards, though... did you, as an honest viewer, feel completed satisfied with what you just saw?

My confident guess for the vast majority would be a resounding 'no'. 5/10

The ECHO is the Hollywood remake of the Filipino horror movie from director Yam Laranas entitled "Sigaw" which is also released in the international market with the similar title "The Echo" The story begins when a young ex-con comes home to the apartment where her mother who passed away, lived. He curiously tries to find out what happened to her and why she died. He discovers that the apartment he lives in is having strange occurrences. He finds drops of blood, hears noises of things that are not there, and at the same time, he is also concerned about his apartment neighbor; a mother and daughter who is being victimized by an abusive live-in partner. All these things that haunt him soon affect his life, his work, and his relationship. He even begins to question his own sanity. Soon enough, he must face these things so that it will bring him peace.

Supposedly one that should be categorized as something which is more of a Ghost Story and Psychological Drama, THE ECHO is rich in stylistic visual images. An artful blend of bleak beauty in terms of cinematography and atmosphere, with the eerie vibe created by its storyline. The moments of horror may not be too bloody (except perhaps for one scene that had me biting my own finger) but they indeed transmit the sense of gloom well into its audience.

Jesse Bradford obviously did a better performance than Richard Guttierez (in the original version). His fear and sense of paranoia can communicate well with the audience. Iza Calzado is as haunting as she was in the original. I actually felt that the movie needed more focus on Iza whose role in the original was underlined well, and was very relevant with real world issues of abuse.

The Echo takes a lot of time to build up the horror. The slow build-up is reminiscent of old horror movies like The Exorcist, which takes its time to make its characters whole and establish a familiarity with the audience before it spills out the full extent of the horror.

The minor problem with The Echo is that if you have already watched the original Echo movie which is known here in the Philippines as "Sigaw" and you already have an idea what these hauntings are all about and why they occur, you might feel that it tends to drag and bore, because the surprise is already spoiled for you. Much of the movie's appeal relies on not knowing why these things happen.

As much as my heart goes out to the director, though, I am sorry to say that I felt that the build-up just dragged too slowly. Some sequences felt like it was just an exercise of waiting for something to happen. I feel that this needed to be re-cut, just to delete off the sequences that are horribly unnecessary. The subplots in between the horror sequences sometimes feel uninteresting. There is a good pay-off at the end but its pay-off is not as satisfying as, say, The Exorcists' final act which all goes off to hellish chaos. Instead, its pay-off is still storyline-based. It does not go off in a whimper, no, it does unleash some hell. But not enough to get it off its track, as it maintains its disciplined pace, leading to an appropriate end which makes the story go full circle. You will soon realize that this is NOT the Exorcist; this is a Ghost Story.

If you watch this movie, do not expect this to be like your run-of-the-mill slasher flick or torture horror; you should just expect a good ghost movie. There is some violence and gore in it, but this is no monsterfest. It is never goofy and it treats its own story in a very serious manner. It feels like something that may have happened in reality. That is actually its beauty because many other horror movies out there tend to overblow their stories to a point that it feels bogus and cartoonish. The Echo takes its time and is more or less grounded in reality. Quiet, but eerie. Just like the ghosts that live around us.

Bobby Reynolds (Jesse Bradford) is on parole under close supervision. He moves into his late mother's apartment in an old apartment building. He gets a mechanics job with Hector Rodriguez. He reconnects with former girlfriend Alyssa (Amelia Warner). He keeps hearing disturbing sounds in the apartment.

This is a simple horror story. It's a slow burn. It so simple and so slow that it just lost me. I got bored. Jesse Bradford is fine. I've never been that impressed with him. This simple horror really needs Jesse to carry the whole film on his back. The setting is non-descriptive in a bland way. Nothing is grabbing me in this one.

I find it ridiculous that this movie didn't get a good release while the likes of Boogeyman, They, The Unborn, and countless other Asian film remakes did! This movie is worth your time, to say the least.

I won't really say it's slow paced as things started the moment the lead character got in the apartment. But it definitely is boring if your concept of a horror movie is limited to gore and run-for-your-life scenes after every 5 minutes of dialogue. This is more of an "alone at night horror movie" than an "invite friends over and have popcorn" type. The enjoyment lies in the appreciation of story, texture, and creepy atmosphere of the film, which the director served in good proportions.

I liked how Yam Laranas outdid himself in the remake. The story is tighter, and the American lead actors were better than their Filipino counterparts...though I can't say the same for the supporting characters.

In closing, let me just debunk a review here which commented on the other users' comments instead of commenting on the movie (and I'm committing the same crime now), but The Echo is at the very least a decent ghost movie...to call it "half-decent" is already being silly. The film is No Exorcist, but to discredit it just to balance out the opinion of those who thought it was good is self-deception.

The movie is not without its imperfections, but it won't make you cry for your 90 minutes. Many contemporary horror movies did worse.