Film Review: Stir of Echoes

Review:
To start off, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was creepy in all the right places and had a well constructed story line. Directed by David Koepp, Kevin Bacon gives an engaging and credible performance as the husband Tom Witzky who is not satisfied with his life's accomplishments. There are some good scares in unexpected places. As the story continues, we see him becoming increasingly overwhelmed by these visions. What could it be? They consume him and I was left feeling sad for him and his plight. Luckily for him, the son shares the same gift/curse of being able to commune with the dead. The supporting cast helps to move the story along. His wife Maggie, played by Kathryn Erbe tries to be the glue in an effort to hold the family together. Yeah, good luck with that. The pacing of the film continues to build until the key elements are finally revealed. With a gasp of relief, the story comes to an eventful conclusion.

The general premise here is that people, according to the actor Kevin Dunn playing the character of longtime friend Frank, live in a "good neighborhood". But, scratch just beneath the surface and one might find a whole different perspective. On a brisk autumn evening at a nearby party, Illeana Douglas who plays Maggie's psychic-in-training sister Lisa convinces Tom to allow her to hypnotize him much to his disliking. During this session, it is discovered that Tom is highly susceptible to being put under. It is during this time that she plants a suggestion for him to have an open mind about everything. This precipitates the unraveling of what were good and positive relationships. Tom becomes increasingly obsessive about the dead girl appearing before him. The floodgates are wide open and everything is pouring into his mind with such singularity that he feels compelled to follow the clues to its end. Although Tom's son has the same gift and according to police officer Neil, a much better "flashlight," the film focuses on the ghosts involvement almost exclusively with the father rather than the son.

Overall, I highly recommend this film to anyone looking for a good ole ghost story. If you liked The Sixth Sense, you'll really enjoy this gem of a film. The scenes when Tom is under hypnosis are eerie and serve as an excellent plot device to move the story along. All of these elements bring the movie to a satisfying climax. There was a sequel made several years later titled: "Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming" which I have not seen. Therefore, I have no comment.

Mike's Rating: 8 Corpses in the basement (Freaked the crap out of me)
MPAA Rating: Rated R for violence, sexuality and language
Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes