Plot: What’s it about?
I rarely compare movies and say that if you like “this” movie then you will like “that” movie. I will eat my words this time around and say that if you thought that The Sixth Sense was excellent, like me, or even liked it then you will really enjoy Stir of Echoes. It has the same premise of humans seeing ghosts, but this movie is darker and a little more suspenseful. Stir of Echoes was written and directed by David Koepp. It stars Kevin Bacon as Tom Witzly the father, Kathryn Erbe as his wife Maggie, Zachary David Cope as Jake their son, and Illeana Douglas as Maggie’s sister Lisa.
The movie starts out with the Jake talking to himself, or so it appears that way. Later that night Tom and Kathryn go to a party next door at a friends house and after the party they end up hanging out and talking with some of their friends. Lisa is taking a hypnosis class at the local college and nobody believes that you can be hypnotized. So Tom volunteers to be hypnotized. Well he gets hypnotized and crazy things happen to him during the hypnosis and shortly there after. Kevin sees a girl, for a split second, at his house later that night and he doesn’t know who she is or why she is there, but he tells his wife that it must have been an halucination or something. Later that week Tom and Kathryn go to a High School football game with some friends and they leave a babysitter with their son. Before Kevin gets in to the stadium he can see that his son is being kidnapped by the babysitter, by visions in his head. They find the son at a train station with the girl and they take him back home. Later in the movie the wife comes across someone that can tell that Jake can see ghosts and it appears that Jake knows him and must have told him that his dad can as well. I only say this because it never really explains that part in the movie. The stranger tells her that he must help the ghost or otherwise it will stay in their house forever and the ghost will get angrier and angrier as time goes by. Tom must find out what the ghost wants and he becomes determined to find out at any cost.
This is an excellent movie and I am purchasing this DVD as we speak over the internet. I just rented the copy that I am reviewing and I wish I would have saved four bucks and just purchased the thing. But it is no fun when you buy something you haven’t seen and it turns out not be that good. Anyway… Last year The Sixth Sense was my favorite movie of the year and now I would have to say that Stir of Echoes is a close second. I enjoy scary movies, but I have never liked two thrillers of this nature so much. It is bad to see when two similar movies get released so close together. And that seems to happen in Hollwyood quite often. One of them is bound to get hurt. Stir of Echoes was the one this time around. But please give it a chance on DVD. I don’t think you will regret it. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. The acting is first rate and very believable. This is an excellent DVD package as well. Lots of extras and you should be able to pick this up over the internet for about $20.
Video: How does it look?
This is a dark movie, very little light was used at all throughout the movie. This is a 16×9 enhanced picture and it looks great. I didn’t notice any grain or really anything negative about the picture at all. Not that there couldn’t be, but I was so engrossed in the movie that I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to the video quality.
Audio: How does it sound?
This is a very good 5.1 soundtrack. The surrounds get a lot of attention in some scenes when voices are spoken and in dreams and such. The dialogue is very clear and easy to understand. The subwoofer also gets some attention in some of the darker scenes where you are meant to jump out of your chair. A very good job done by the folks at Artisan.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Artisan has inclued a commentary with Director, David Koepp and some other interesting extras. All in all, it’s one disc you should check out and buy…or at least rent.
