Review of Stir of Echoes (1999) by Bob S — 07 Sep 2008

''Does it hurt to be dead?''.

After being hypnotized by his sister in law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.

Kevin Bacon: Tom Witzky.

Stir of Echoes unfairly is compared with one of a similar natured theme, The Sixth Sense. But no one can say this is a basic copy, just because Echoes was released only one month prior to Sixth Sense. Maybe for that reason, the latter superbly achieved success. Who knows what might have happened had Stir Of Echoes been released first.

Stir Of Echoes really begins to gain momentum when Jake, who's having conversations with a dead girl spirit, suggests a female babysitter to look after him while his parents are attending a football game.

Through a uncanny turn of events, it becomes obvious to Tom that the dead girl in the house is the sister of the babysitter. Of course raising lots of unanswered questions and a frightening secret involving the neighbourhood and it's inhabitants.

Tom interestingly enough, begins to lose focus with reality, by getting bizarre instructions, for example at one point, to dig. So he obviously, makes a massive mess of his yard, then his house, then his basement in that order.

Tom will get the answers he wants to gain, and he'll learn the truth about a terrifying secret.

Stir Of Echoes is not perfect but it doesn't have to be. There's an fascinating sub-plot about a police officer with the vision that could of been elaborated on. The Lisa character also shows little remorse for the post-hypnotic suggestion she left upon poor Tom, she's more interested in getting high with friends or ridiculing him.

But that's no where negative enough to ruin anything about Stir Of Echoes.

The movie is highly enjoyable, especially for those of you who enjoy a good, tense supernatural thriller. Kevin Bacon does a commendable job of portraying a man driven by forces he cannot at first fathom.

I love the part where Tom is floating on a chair in a cinema, in a dream. Or even when he has a dream which is so real that he is unable to tell it is. Very clever indeed.

So in conclusion Stir Of Echoes results in a stylish psychological, supernatural thriller with awesome performances and a surreal plot.