Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes is a very good horror thriller in the traditional sense. It's the story of a guy who gets hypnotised and develops precognitive psychic abilities which he can't control.

Kevin Bacon is excellent and shows he can be a leading man, while the rest of the cast performs well. Sets, special effects and cinematography are all very good - nothing flashy but solid.

It has shocks and suspense, especially in the first half, and although it could be accused of being a little clichéd, it never strays too far into the 'seen it all before' category.

The second half of the film turns into a more traditional thriller but still holds up well, unlike similarly themed movies such as 'What Lies Beneath.' This is because it is pleasingly short, lasting around 90 minutes (the correct length for a film of this type). There are some plot strands that aren't explained, but this can be forgiven because of the film's running time.

Although not mind blowing, it has a decent payoff at the end and left me satisfied that I'd just watched a good movie. Not a great one, but a good one. Pick this one up cheap on DVD.

This creepy thriller concerns about a family, when the marriage goes to a party into a calmed neighboring, happen weird events. Tom (Kevin Bacon, Sleepers) being hypnotized by his sister in law(Ileana Douglas), then, he winds up with clairvoyant abilities that link to disappeared teen girl(Jennifer Morrison, today famous by House). These faculties also have traumatized his young boy( similarly to kid in ¨The sixth sense, he isn't only one seeing dead), carrying the fear under his frail shoulders, but he can communicate with the deceased adolescent and presumed missing. Tom and son's visions lead to have problems with his wife(Kathryn Erbe, Law and Order) and friends(Kevin Dunn, secondary in Gozzilla). It leads to unexpected and breakthrough twist ending about what's happened before.

The movie packs suspense, tension, shocks, grisly horror and eerie scenes when the ghoul appear. The film takes accent as the suspense as well as the terror. Provides an imaginative, highly original and well-knit screenplay by David Koepp, also director, and based on novel by Richard Matheson. Sinister and mysterious atmosphere is finely made by cameraman Fred Murphy. Creepy music score fitting to the horror film by James Newton Howard, he's habitual maker of frightening atmospheres such as ¨Sixth sense, Devil's advocate¨ and composer of all films by Night Shyamalan. The motion picture is well directed by David Koepp, a famous screenwriter(Zathura, War of the worlds, Spiderman, Mission impossible) and occasionally director(Secret window,The trigger effect). The flick will like to terror fans because gets decent scares and intense sequences of horror.

Actually, I found this movie more satisfying than "Sixth sense". It doesn't have a stunning payoff like "sixth sense" (what film does?), but until the, in some ways hasty, conclusion, it's well made, scary and, since I have a knowledge of occult things through a good friend, rather believable. Kevin Bacon is credible in his part and so do Illeana Douglas. Kathryn Erbe however is stuck with nothing to do for large chunks of the movie. Effectively and atmosphericly shot, with some effective jolts that made me jump. To some, the conclusion may be a little simple and drawn-out, but I thought it was satisfying and filled to the brim with suspense. I find that the digging in the cellar/garden is a nice build-up for the finale, not that it goes on forever as a previous reviewer stated. It's only one thing that bothers me about the ending, and it is that too little is explained and a few threads of the story are totally abandoned. But that's only a minor complaint. For the most part, this is a creepy, interesting, well-made, scary and well played little thriller.

I have always admired and marveled at Kevin Bacon's versatility as an actor. From the likable fish-out-of-water guy who trips the light-fantastic through a piece of fluff like FOOTLOOSE, to putting everything on the line to play a pedophile in the unnerving THE WOODSMAN, there's hardly anything he can't - or won't do - to show his amazing range.

That being said, STIR OF ECHOES still holds what is for me one of his all-time Top Five performances.

He plays Tom Witzky, a regular mug living with his family in a working-class suburb of Chicago. Though he loves his family, hotter-than-hot wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and precocious son Jake (Zachary David Cope), he's also a man becoming bored with his life. He wants to do and be something more than who and what he is.

Obviously, the old adage "be careful what you wish for" went right over Tom's head.

At a party for family and friends, Tom volunteers to be hypnotized by his flaky sister-in-law, Lisa (the always excellent Illeana Douglas), who makes a powerful suggestion to Tom that his mind takes literally. What happens next will change his life and everyone's around him forever.

A 'doorway' has been opened inside Tom's head that allows him to communicate with the dead, and for them to reach out and touch him...whether he wants to or not. When the "nightmares" that he's been having begin to intensify, Tom knows he must find a way to close that doorway for good before he loses his family...and his sanity. The urgency is heightened when he discovers how sensitive he was before the hypnotic suggestion, in the most chilling way possible...it seems that son Jake can see and talk to the dead as well.

In the tradition of THE CHANGELING, LADY IN WHITE and THE SIXTH SENSE, the focus of Tom's visions comes from one apparition in particular, who won't leave him or his family in peace until he can figure out what it wants and why. The situation provides fodder for one intense and terrifying performance, and with help from a strong supporting cast, Bacon comes through like a champ.

When movies like this are adapted from older works by classic authors, I usually proceed with the greatest caution. But Richard Matheson's creepy novel has been skillfully transformed by David Koepp, a man who knows a little bit about balancing thoughtful plotting and dialogue with outright terror, (as in APARTMENT ZERO) and the outstanding job he does here will make you think twice the next time somebody wants to 'put you out' at a party with something more than just shots of Captain Morgan...

The biggest problem with Stir of Echoes is the timing of the release. As we all know it was released at the same time as The Sixth Sense and the subject matter is coincidentaly very simular. This film not quite as good as the Bruce Willis classic because i dont think the twist is quite as dramatic. The thing that compares favourably to The Sixth Sense is that Stir Of Echoes is thoroughly entertaining from the first minute. Kevin Bacon Stars as a father who is hypnotised by his sister in law, which results in the opening of his mind to the spirit of a girl who was murdered in his house. His son already had the powers to speak to dead people and together they try to solve why the girl keeps contacting them. The young boy is brilliant in the roll as is Kevin Bacon and the whole film keeps you on the edge of the seat. The way this is filmed is stunning, especially when he is first hypnotised, i nearly went under myself! A Very entertaining movie. 8 out of 10.