Stir of Echoes (1999) Movie Review by BASSI

Written by: BASSI

Stir of Echoes' is one of the better supernatural thrillers I have seen in some time. It is a frightening and gripping story, well presented and well crafted. Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) and his wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) live a normal middle class life with their son Jake (Zachary David Cope) in a Chicago suburb. Normal, that is, except for the fact that young Jake is communing with the dead. One evening Tom dares his sister-in-law to hypnotize him to prove it is a bunch of baloney. The result is that Tom begins to get visions of a young girl named Samantha; the same girl Jake has been talking with. When Tom gets a message to find her, he begins an all consuming and obsessive quest. What he finds turns out to be an evil and sinister revelation that puts him and his whole family in grave danger.

The story is very effective, presented more as a psychological horror film rather than the grisly gore so prevalent in the genre. Numerous comparisons have been made between this film and ‘The Shining' and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind', somehow implying that because this film used some of the effective devices from those films, it is without value. I couldn't disagree more. There is a difference between ripping off a story and adapting effective devices used in other films. This film did the later par extraordinaire. This story used a novel approach to a well plowed genre. It combined the supernatural element with a mystery to produce a powerful hybrid. Forget the comparison with ‘Sixth Sense'. The only thing these films had in common was dead people.

Writer/Director David Koepp did a terrific job in both capacities. The story was plausible, frightening and drew the viewer in. There were some dangling dead end plot lines (Maggie's pregnancy disappeared as a plot element after the announcement; and what was Neil about?) that just wasted our time. But mostly, everything fit together well. The direction was fabulous. It was designed to scare the hell out of you and that it did. Koepp created incredible suspense without the use of expensive special effects, simply by using the camera and sound effectively. The five speaker surround on the DVD was particularly good and added impact and eeriness to each scene.

Kevin Bacon was at the top of his game in this film. His obsession with finding Samantha was played with intensity and single mindedness. Kathryn Erbe was also good as Maggie, bringing both strength and passion to the part.

I rated this film a 10/10. This is an excellent thriller. Don't miss it.

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