Rating: 
Summary: One of 1999's best
Review: I've heard all the comparison's between Stir of Echos and The Sixth Sense and I don't really think it's fair. They have some similarities, yes, but the storyline is totally different. Kevin Bacon is fantastic in this film. he is hypnotized by his sister-in-law at a party and begins receiving horrifying and eerie images in his mind of a shy girl named Samantha Koufax. He only sees bits and pieces of these images and he tries to place them together to figure out what they mean. He will stop at nothing to figure out this mystery whether it means tearing apart his house, his marriage or his life. It's a non-stop thriller that will keep your interest peaked and keep you guessing throughout the film. This is a good movie to watch in the dark!!! Maybe it doesn't get the accolades of The Sixth Sense but I believe it's just as good.
Rating: 
Summary: Atmospheric, scary, well photgraphed
Review: Stir of Echoes had an unremarkable run at the boxoffice. While it only faintly resembles The Sixth Sense, it had enough plot similarities for it to be compared unfavorably to that phenomenal smash hit. The truth is that, for a movie of its type, its business was about average. How we media journalists love to make comparisons! What was really happening in Media Land was this: The small company that released Stir of Echoes was Artisan, which also distributed the sleeper hit The Blair Witch Project. So, like in the case of the Rams' winning the Super Bowl, many of us were eager to say that Artisan couldn't do it twice. As a group, we tend to root for the little guy only until he actually wins. A more convincing case might be made that movies headlining poor Kevin Bacon rarely make money. At least there we have several years worth of data.When the movie opens, we see Tony Witsky [Bacon] sitting on his bed strumming a guitar. In the adjoining bathroom, his six-year old son is taking a bath. From Tony's point of view, the boy seems to be babbling on like many kids do. From ours, he looks as though he is talking to someone only he can see. Our viewpoint is the correct one, for this is a ghost story. At first, no one pays any attention to the child, and when they do, they don't believe him. Later on, Tony has good reason to know his son is telling the truth, and the apparition becomes their secret world. Of course, how a child would handle such a situation is quite different from how an adult would, and one of the delights of the movie is in seeing the huge difference in their reactions. Like most movie ghosts, the dead girl in this one is hanging around until justice is done. Her problem is something Tony and his wife Maggie [Katherine Erbe] have no way to deal with. Although Tony dreams of being a rock star, the couple is basically an ordinary one living in a working-class Chicago neighborhood. They have a good marriage. They are well-liked. The extent of their adventures up to know seems limited to beer-drinking parties and to dealing with Maggie's off-the-wall sister, Lisa [Ileana Douglas], who is studying to be a hypno-therapist. As a tale, Stir of Echoes is genuinely spooky. Tony's uncovering of the ghost's terrible secret merely leads to yet more horror. There are few special effects. Director David Keopp doesn't need them. He makes great use of lightening and sound. There are a few problems with the movie, most of them to do with characterization. Tony tends to be indecisive, and I suspect that such a person would usually choose flight over fight. Maggie gets so loud and agitated when she's angry that it makes the idea of a good marriage a little suspect. When it becomes obvious that Tony has gone over the edge, not only does no one try to intercede, no one even pays much attention. Still, these defects in the plot's structure don't do irreparable harm to the thrill and chill aspects. They do cause Stir of Echoes to be a good movie, rather than a great one.
Rating: 
Summary: Derivative and unsatisfying
Review: I was looking forward to seeing this DVD after remembering some exciting-looking trailers, but the movie disappointed me. Even taking into account the obvious similarities to "The Sixth Sense" (which I thought was much more well done) and an influence of both movies, "The Shining", I never got the impression that I was watching anything original. "Stir of Echoes" is a rote supernatural-themed thriller that probably worked better in the original book than it does on the big screen. Kevin Bacon's character does start to get developed a little in the beginning of the movie as we find out that he wants to be more than an "ordinary guy", but this never goes anywhere. He starts having bizarre visions after being hypnotized by his wife's sister (played by Illeana Douglas, whose role as a dippy academic was funny in "Ghost World" but is just annoying here). The most effective bits of the movie for me were the brief snippets of visions shown through Kevin Bacon's point of view ... whether seeing them in real-time or in DVD freeze-frame, they were both scary and intriguing. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't take the premise anywhere new or exciting. None of the characters are interesting, there are shots and scenes that seem portentous but lead nowhere ... the movie seemed rather underwritten, as we get only brief sketches of the different characters and stretches of superfluous visual filler. The movie is basically a murder thriller but the suspense is undermined by the predictability. I'm afraid that for me the only memorable part (in a positive way) of "Stir of Echoes" was the pleasant Beth Orton song at the end of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Stir of Echoes = The Sixth Sense Done Right!
Review: -Great movie, always overlooked. The Sixth Sense was also a very good movie, but Stir of Echoes is better. Stir of Echoes is the Sixth Sense done right! It is rated R, so it can be more violent, more scary, and more disturbing. Everything ties in to make sense at the end. The music "Paint it Black" is great. Kevin Bacon has the role of his life. This movie is much better than the book. This DVD comes with special features, a good commentary, a good video. The one problem is that it has no subtitles. We need english subtitles to read the lines during the commentary. But, still it is a great must buy DVD. "You start with that Dionne Warwick crap, I'm going to throw you right out the window" - Kevin Bacon "I need better tools." - Kevin Bacon
Rating:
Summary: A Frightening Thriller That You Will Never Forget!
Review: Talk about a nail-biting thriller, "Stir of Echoes" is a supernatural journey into the unknown. Brilliantly written and directed, this is a movie that shouldn't be missed by anyone. Kevin Bacon stars as Tom. Tom is an ordinary man who loves his family and is devoted to his job. The only thing he wishes is that he wasn't so ordinary. Everything drastically changes at a neighborhood party when Tom is hypnotized for a brief period of time. After that unforgettable night, Tom starts seeing things; haunting and violent images that he can't stop or ignore. He hears things that he cannot block from his eardrums. Later on, he discovers that what he is witnessing are possible puzzle pieces to an unspeakable crime that took place a while back. As Tom starts losing it and is determined to solve the unbearable puzzle that haunts him day and night, the more danger he puts him and his family into. In a way, this was the movie that "Sixth Sense" was trying to be. I felt that this movie was a lot more shocking and haunting. The movie has great acting and a fabulous screenplay. This is a movie you may not want to watch late at night, unless you don't mind a nightmare or two. It's too bad that this movie came out the same time that "The Sixth Sense" did, otherwise it would've gotten more recognition; well deserved recognition at that. There are a few extras on the DVD for those of you who enjoy what special features DVDs have to offer, including a behind the scenes feature, a music video, and a couple of trailers. This is a great thriller that should've gotten a hell of a lot more recognition. Rent or buy this one as soon as you can. If you love a dark thriller, then you will not be disappointed. Be warned; there are some shocking and disturbing images that may be hard to stomach for some; not for those who get disturbed easily. "Stir of Echoes" is filled with thrills and surprises that you won't want to miss. It also has an excellent plot with a surprising climax. An easy 5 out of 5 stars, without question.
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable
Review: Sorry, but I was expecting more. Save for the part where the ghost is sitting next to him on the couch, this didn't have that suspense that I was looking for. It definitly ranks way behind "the others" and "sixth sense". The acting isn't too bad, which makes it watchable, but there's just not much to it.
Rating:
Summary: I normally laugh at horror movies - not this one
Review: This is a truely creepy movie. Normally I laugh at horror movies. Not this one. I really felt uncomfortable watching it. It is extremely atmospheric and very scary... I normally hate Hollywood movies because their scripts are terrible and their endings are ridicilous. This film really impressed me and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Film Adaption of a Good Book
Review: Read the book! it is shame that the novel is listed as only a "basis" for the film. (Elsie the seductive neighbor, the surprise "twist" at the end, Anne's struggle as a wife to understand Tom's condition-all left out. Why?) I think if they used more of the novel's elements the movie would have done better in light of the blockbuster "Sixth Sense" The acting is good, a few suspenful elements in the film, but Bacon' plays Tom Wallace as a ignorant blue collored worker that doesn't really tap the author's character in the book. I'm glad I rented it, but angry at the hatchet job Hollywood perform on a very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY GOOD SCARE!
Review: I haven't seen a film since 'Silence of the Lambs' where the mood of the film was very grim and plot full of twists. Director David Keopp does a fine job by keeping the picutre visually stunning so that the audience can truly enjoy the suspense.Kevin Bacon is a great actor and i'm sure he'll be rewarded with an Oscar soon for his efforts in such diverse roles. The story is about a man who ends up getting a hypnotised during a party winds up living a real nightmare when he discovers than he can comminucate with the dead.I do not like to give the plot but it's definetly worth the watch. The film had stiff competion when it was released with films like "Blair Witch Project' and "The Sixth Sense' so may not have done that great at the box-office but do not let that stop you from getting the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Stir of Echoes, a surprisingly convincing ghost story
Review: Other reviewers have mentioned The Sixth Sense as a comparison for Stir of Echoes. Steven King's The Shining also has some similarities which are worth noting. In all these films a young child is sensitive to the restless spirits who want human intervention to right a wrong. Additionally, this is the premise of the film Ghost, with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. Stir of Echoes is as believable as the rest of these watchable films. While not as frightening as something like The Exorcist, a classic, Stir of Echoes has fine performances by the entire cast and carefully builds suspense as we watch Kevin Bacon go from doubter in the supernatural to obsessed with finding what happened to a missing girl who haunts him and his young son. The Irish seem particularly interested in ghosts. W.B. Yeats, perhaps the greatest poet of the 20th century, spent much of his adult life trying to communicate with the spirit world, and had some success, if we are to believe his reports in many of his published works. More recently, Van Morrison talked about the Irish sensitivity to ghosts in discussing his performance of the great Patrick Kavanaugh song, Raglan Road. In other words, we are prepared to suspend disbelief in what appears to be absurd because so many gifted people seem to think that contacting the dead is possible. Stir of Echoes also owes a debt to Edgar Allan Poe's superb short story, The Cask of Amontillado. In his obsession to find the missing girl, Kevin Bacon begins to tear down his house to find her. At this point the story turns grisly as the dark secret of Poe's story is revealed in this new twist on Poe's orginal idea. The action moves relentlessly to a credible conclusion. This is one of those films that surprise the viewer who may not be expecting to see a well made movie. The direction is tight and the dialogue well written. The ending makes sense given the careful presentation of the various subplots that have been introduced. Kevin Bacon is the driving force in this film and he shows once again that he deserves to be in the top tier of American actors.
| 
