Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: OK, I'm not a Kevin Bacon fan - but I have to say this is very good movie.
Scary (at least moderately so), suspenseful (very), and deals with a variety of interesting elements (hypnotism-induced awareness, ghostly manipulation of physical objects, "place memory" of past events, and more).
A very different film from 6th sense (although that also had an actor that I'm not impressed with - B.W. - I enjoyed that too.)
Rating: 
Summary: Kevin does it again
Review: Once again, Kevin Bacon comes out with something new and basically more names to add the game "Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon". "Illeana Douglas...?" "She was in "Stir Of Echoes" with KEVIN BACON!" This movie is much more than that to be honest with you. I want to start by saying that it is not "The Sixth Sense". Yes many of the ideas of young kids seeing dead people are there, but this movie is a lot more eerie than dramatic. The film begins with Kevin's son talking to someone. "Oh God. He talks to dead people." Well, it's only one really. Both the father and son share a connection about being able to experience things that aren't real. They can see the future and the past. The gift doesn't come to Kevin until his sister-in-law, played the previously mentioned Douglas, hypnotizes him. This is what wakes the power in him to see a person in his house that is dead. He doesn't clearly know the reason she died, or why she is in his house and talking to his son. The visions of the past (and future) are mangled to him and his son is too innocent to solve the case. He goes through a bad head-trip and figures that the reason he is seeing these things happen is because it is his destiny. On a binge of orange juice (for some reason he has to keep drinking when these things happen. It was never explained that well) it's Kevin to the rescue. I'm not a big fan of all of his films but Bacon does some great work every now and them. This is certainly one his best works as a working class Boston man that must struggle between the ghostly voices in his head and everyday life with a now pregnant wife. This is a truly remarkable thriller and should be seen at least once.
Rating:
Summary: As good as 6th sense
Review: The new Hollywood player "Artisan Entertainment" offers up its second outing in the wake of the "Blair Witch Project". The "Stir of Echoes" is based on a long out of print novel which has been adapted by screenwriter/director David Koepp. Koepp is responsible for writing such huge hits as both "Jurassic Parks", "Mission: Impossible" and "Men In Black." His last directing effort was 1996's "Trigger Effect" which told of paranoia erupting during a mass blackout in LA. In "Stir of Echoes" we encounter more paranoia and its effects on a Chicago-based family. The cause of the paranoia comes when the head of the family (Kevin Bacon) is hypnotized by an unlicensed hypno-therapist (Illeana Douglas). The hypnosis opens an unlocked chamber of Bacon's mind and unleashes a long kept secret come to life. "Stir of Echoes" is a very light and subtle ghost story thriller. How can a film like this overcome the flooded horror genre market? Well the standout performance by Kevin Bacon is probably a good start as he gives one of his best in recent years. His protective nature towards his boy, his obsession with trying to solve his polluted mind and his reactions with the supernatural phenomenon bring out every reaction in Bacon. The portrayal reminded me a lot of Craig T Nelson in the classic "Poltergeist" as an every day man trying to battle the unknown. Other evidences of "Poltergeist" were in the "little boy" who knows more than his parents and seems to be in tune with the corporeal world. One aspect of Echoes which is never fully explored is the "open-minded" underground where the wife learns that only 8% of the population have the ability to see the corporeal world. Begging for help this intriguing subplot could have been the key this supernatural thriller needed. Except the story takes the obvious road and we end at the conclusion. Was this fully explored in the novel? We may never know. So if you are a Kevin Bacon fan see "Stir of Echoes" and if you want to see a good ghost story then see this film.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Scary and Suspenseful
Review: There was so much press over "The Sixth Sense" when it came out that critics and audiences generally ignored "Stir of Echoes;" too bad, because "Stir of Echoes" is actually scarier than "The Sixth Sense." "The Sixth Sense" is slower-paced, and relies on a couple of plot devices to give viewers slowly growing chills with a couple of jumps along the way, leading to the final revealing moment where you have to re-evaluate everything that you saw. "Stir of Echoes" is an in-your-face ghost story.
Tim Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a blue-collar worker who has recently moved to an older urban neighborhood. The house he is renting is a beautiful home. The neighborhood seems normal and friendly. Initially you wonder what could be so scary about this neighborhood.
Son Jake (Zachary David Cope) talks to someone who obviously is not there. Of course, many children have invisible friends and we chalk the experience up to what we know. What becomes unusual is when Tim is hypnotized during a party. Suddenly, Tim experiences unusual and bizarre nightmares, including situations where he not only sees things, but experiences things physically.
Tim tries to have the hypnotist undo whatever she did, but she is unable to do so, because she really does not know what she did. Tim's visions increase as he becomes obsessed with more than finding out the source of the visions. For some reason he is being compelled by a ghost to do something, for a reason that he has yet to understand. As Tim's obsession/compulsion grows, his wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) begins to think that Tim is either insane or heading in that direction.
As we follow Tim's descent into madness, a number of occurrences convince us that either his insanity is quite vivid (for the skeptics among us), or he truly is seeing a ghost. Eventually we are convinced that he is seeing a ghost, which makes his situation even more frightening, because the ghost becomes insistent to the extent of putting Tim and possibly Jake's life in danger.
This movie contains sufficient psychological thrills in combination with jump out from behind the corner scares and an ending that I did not see coming to give it advantages over "The Sixth Sense." This movie is not necessarily better than "The Sixth Sense" because it is a different kind of movie. However, it is its equal in setting up an eerie atmosphere and superior in providing several moments that gave me a nice jump (when was the last time you saw a dead girl unexpectedly sitting next to you on the couch?).
Kevin Bacon provides an incredible performance in this movie. I consider Kevin's performance superior to Bruce Willis's because of the intensity of Kevin's character, and the need to play someone who appeared on the borderline of being insane yet knowing that he was under a terrible compulsion that he did not control. The combination of emotions Kevin attained was more difficult than Bruce Willis's rather staid role.
The supporting actors completed the rather mundane scenario, which could have been acted out in your neighborhood, just around the corner. The people seemed so real, so normal. Their dreams and actions were those of people that likely you know. It is their very normalcy and that this story takes place in a suburb rather than an isolated location that makes this story scarier.
This movie is one of the best ghost stories I have watched, and I consider it to be one of the best ghost stories of all time. Well worth watching more than once and having in your horror movie collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: This film came out about the same time as the Sixth Sense but it's not as good...It's still a watchable and enjoyable film though...I give it three stars because it insults your intelligence; i.e., you are supposed to believe that Kevin Bacon's character has psychic abilities; he knows a girl was murdered yet he hasn't a clue where the girl's body is and tears the house up and down trying to locate it? His abilities must be very limited and the audience is supposed to just enjoy the ride and ignore the impossible!
Rating:
Summary: Scarier Than Sixth Sense, and Well-Acted
Review: This film has its share of scary moments, and some excellent acting by almost all of the large cast. The movie is about what happens when Kevin Bacon's character suddenly becomes "open" to the supernatural elements that surround him. He struggles to make sense of them, and in the meantime feels as though he is receiving clues to a puzzle. In addition to the basic "thriller" premise, I like that director David Koepp takes time to establish relationships between the characters. For example, Bacon's character's relationship with his wife is clearly portrayed, and as a viewer, you understand why those characters behave the way they do. Koepps's pacing of the unfolding plot is also well-done. He manages to keep you engaged in the story while still imparting a lot of information through dialogue, and the breaks between "scary parts" give you a chance to catch your breath, and re-connect with the characters. The movie pays homage to a ton of great thrillers -- The Shining, and Close Encounters, most notably -- and Koepp acknowledges Brian De Palma's help and influence on this film. One scene that stands out in the film is the scene in which Bacon's character (Tom) is first hypnotized. Hypnosis scenes have been done to death in movies, so it was nice to see such an original take on it in the film. Instead of showing the cliche of the hypnotist staring into the camera, dangling a pendulum, Koepp decides to show his audience exactly what Tom is visualizing as he listens to the hypnotist. The result is that you see all the odd things that follow from Tom's perspective. This has two beneficial functions: First, there is real entertainment value in watching someone get hypnotized "from the inside out." Second, it helps you sympathize with Tom, who is the film's protagonist, and an occasionally otherwise unsympathetic character. Since this is a DVD review, I'll briefly comment on DVD-specific aspects of the video release. The video is usually clear, but sometimes grainy in the darker scenes. The audio mix is fine. Extras include a scene-specific commentary by director David Koepp. The commentary is usually interesting and insightful, and only occasionally cloying. He describes how he shot several scenes, why he made certain story decisions, and what it was like to work with some of the actors. So, all in all, if you like Kevin Bacon, or think you would like to see a scarier version of the Sixth Sense, you will probably like this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Stir of Ehs
Review: This is not a bad movie. It is reasonably well made, although it has dubiously long sequences of Kevin Bacon searching for power tools and using said power tools w/o any serious tension, as we know exactly what he will find, as does he. Also, the background crime and its perpetrators were too easy to discern halfway through the film, and some variation of the confrontation was obvious 40 minutes into the film. The film has an effective mood, and a couple of jolts... My problem w/ films like this, and I know there are those of you like me, is this: In horror, in Supernatural horror, the supernatural has to be malevolent and it has to be the threat. If an average human is a greater threat to the protagonist than the ghost--which seems to be the common norm of most modern horror/thrillers (Below, 6th Sense, What Lies Beneath, The Others, 28 Days Later, this)--then it does nothing for me. It's not scary. A ghost trying to warn you or avenge its death isn't scary. Sure, the film may manipulate some jumps out of you w/ quick shots of the practically harmless ghost, but after you've experience the thrills, what remains? Once you know the secret of "The Others", what could possibly be scary about the movie after a second viewing? The Exorcist is still scary, because that movie is about an evil presence out to harm you. The Ring gave me some uneasy nights, I admit, because the threat was evil. The Blair Witch Project, the same thing. There's nothing scary about the ghosts in this, in The Others, in the 6th Sense. So, if you really enjoyed movies w/ ghosts who are only harmful in their pop-up-out-of-no-where powers, and human conspiracies about failed coverups scare you more, then you'd like this. If, however, it's the vile nature of the beast that keeps you up at night, then you'd feel you had wasted money on this picture.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Film if You Liked Sixth Sense
Review: This movie is every bit as entertaining as the Sixth Sense and it is a shame it didn't get more press when it was playing in theaters. Kevin Bacon turns in his usual solid performance as a frustrated laborer whose boring life takes a dramatic turn when he allows his flaky sister-in-law to hypnotize him, giving him the ability to sense the supernatural. How Bacon's character reacts to these powers is frightening and sometimes amusing. A good example of the blend of humor and suspense is a scene in which Bacon takes on an interesting construction/desctruction project in his basement. A major part of the plot involves the relationship between Bacon and his young son who shares the supernatural sense. Although the relationship is not at the same level of the relationship between Willis and Osment in the Sixth Sense, it is still interesting, and the young actor (quite a bit younger than Osment) is very convincing and quite creepy when the situation calls for it. For a good, underrated thriller, don't hesitate to check out Stir of Echoes.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie on it's own
Review: Why people compare this to the SIXTH SENSE is beyond me. The psychic powers of the son occupy little more than a few minutes of screen time, and the most dramatic event associated with the son, the "feathers" scene, was more of a directorial attempt to avoid having to kill the child.
This production has more unseen tricks than one can talk of in a small review, but suffice to say, the commentary track does have a lot of gems. Hopefully I can get the special edition, since I have some high expectations for that product.
Anyways, this is a genre film, so it has common themese to a bunch of films, and is only very superficially in the vein of the SIXTH SENSE.
It's a great film to watch, and Kevin Bacon does a great job.
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