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Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spooky
Review: Scariest movie I have ever seen. No joke! I didn't see the sixth sense, but I've heard this was much better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: tarzan
Review: yheoijh reeew w ew rwerewr rewrewr rewrwerewrwerewrerrwerrwer rwer rwer rwerwer rwe

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good but...
Review: Good film, but basically the same story as Peter Medak's The Changeling, a very well-made and frightening ghost story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Six Degrees of Stir of Echoes
Review: This movie was truly a surprise, and a victim of bad timing. It was eerie, suspensful, funny, and somewhat similar to and released around the same time as the Sixth Sense. The mammoth success of Sixth Sense truly wounded this film's potential.Kevin Bacon does a great job as playing a madman driving by those subliminal movie messages like "Dig". He opens up a pathway into the paranormal world after being placed into a hypnotic spell by Ileana Douglas(Fox's Action). From there he finds that he not the only one in his family with the "Shinning", yes the Shinning. Do you want to get sued lad! Sorry, Simpson's reference after he sees his son talking to "imaginary" dead friends as we all tended to do from time to time. While the movie was overshadowed by Sixth Sense it had more action, and moved at a faster pace. The only thing that Sixth sense had over the films was it's incredible ending. The movie would have you jumping one minute and laughing the next, but not in the predictable way most horror movies do. It was truly well done, and had a great sex scene where the wife wakes the husband(Bacon) for some loving. It's true in movies dreams can come true. Go see it or buy it either way you shouldn''t be disappointed unless you one of the people that likes to ruin a movie by saying that's a rip-off from Sixth Sense or that doesn't happen in the Sixth Sense. Also, look for the microwave burrito on the nightstand. I'm still not sure of the symbolism, but I'm sure it's something genious. Take care, go get it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Movie
Review: Stir of Echoes is a good, supernatural thriller. It's above the other movies nowadays. Bacon is great.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: SLEEP...SLEEP...SLEEP
Review: and so our protagonist Tom (Kevin Bacon) slips into a deep hypnotic state, and after he awakens, he starts to "receive" messages from the supernatural. This is the basis for a very scary story which takes place in a close-knit, blue-collarish town where everyone knows their neighbors...but not as well as they think! Bacon's acting is right on the money. I especially liked the supposed blue-collar speak: Aye, how youse doin'? He convincingly acts terrified, confused, & sad...a man on the brink of going looney. Rounding out the cast is the always quirky-yet-attractive Illeana Douglas, down-to-earth sexy Kathryn Erbe as Tom's wife, and playing Tom's son, Jake, Zachary David Cope does a fairly good imitation of the kid from "The Sixth Sense". ( The kid here, you see, has always "received" the same messages!) The director & writer, David Koepp uses a great visual style to move things along, as well as a few neat special FX shots as the supernatural forces come to light. The scene where Tom first goes under hypnosis is very very effective...I almost felt like I was being hypnotized as I wathced...you will too. Thoroughly enjoyable. Great extras. Well worth the price of ownership.

Rating: 3 stars
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: 5 stars
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: 4 stars
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: 5 stars
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.


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