Who can it be knocking at my door? Go 'way, don't come 'round here no more. – Men at Work

If those lyrics ever rang true, it was with this movie. Yam Laranas’ ‘The Echo" takes you on a fright-filled journey with a horror film that is finally able to deliver the goods. The Echo (Sigaw) is both "intense" as well "frightening" and when you’re not "jumping out of your seat" you can easily find yourself squirming with anticipation of "what’s to come."

I’m a huge fan of horror movies and not to many of them really win me over. "The Eye" as well as "A Tale of Two Sisters" is two of my favorite horror films, as well as two of my favorite "Asian Horror" films and "The Echo" easily rates right along with them – it’s that good of a film.

As of late "The Echo" has been getting a lot of praises during it’s current run on the Film Festival circuit - Official Selection: Screamfest L.A. (2005), Winner: Best Editing/Best Sound, Metro Manila Film Festival (2004), Winner: Best Cinematography & Visual Design, Young Critics Circle (2004), Winner: Best Editing/Best Sound Young Critics Circle (2004), Winner: Best Supporting Actress Iza Calzado, Gawad Urian (2004) – and I have to say, they are all well deserved. 

None of what Laranas tried to do would of worked if it wasn’t for the performances of Richard Gutierrez (Marvin) and Iza Calzado (Anna) who both give fine performances in this film.

Iza Clazado was outstanding in her portrayal of a battered and abusive wife. I believed in what she was going through and found myself sympathizing with her plight – and without this emotional attachment to the character the whole movie would begin to fall apart. And the same can be said on the flip side.. I felt Marvin’s pain about having to put up with hearing the daily fighting and wanting to help, but at the same time not wanting to meddle or getting himself physically hurt.

These two actors anchored the film, which was then filled out by a very good supporting cast.

Next to the acting, the film also shined in both Cinematography and Sound. Yam did an excellent job in directing this film, paying special attention to how it was shot.. as well as the use of sound in this picture.  It was almost like having two additional cast members added to the film, because visually as well as audio, everything came to life (the apartment complex, Marvin’s apartment, the score and sound effects) adding to the completeness of the movie viewing experience as well at times - scaring the shit out of you.

Now "The Echo" is without it’s flaws and there are two that really stuck out to me. One would be the overall length of the film, which is 102 mins. Granted, I was pretty much diggin every minute of the film, but I felt that once the film reached a certain place it could of begun to wind down, but Yam continues on and it really doesn’t add much to the overall film.

The second would be that "The Echo" will have a familiar feel to it (intentional or not) with certain elements being similar to "The Eye", "Ju-On: The Grudge" and "Dark Water" films… and that may turn some people off. Personally, I didn’t view these similarities as a blatant rip, but just I wanted to point that out.

In the end, The Echo is original enough to stand on its own, plus it’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun with a movie. BTW.. don’t be surprised if one day you see this film on the American remake list.

Synopsis:  Marven savors his independence in a newly acquired unit of an old apartment building. He is frequently visited by his girlfriend Pinky. Except for an occasional noise from an apartment unit down the hallway, the place is almost perfect for Marven.