Stir of Echoes Review
by JABII (jabii AT aol DOT com)September 24th, 1999
A review by John Beachem
* * *
CAST
Kevin Bacon - Tom Witzky
Kathryn Erbe - Maggie Witzky
Illeana Douglas - Lisa
Zachary David Cope - Jake Witzky
Liza Weil - Debbie Kozac
Kevin Dunn - Frank McCarthy
If there's one thing that will always confuse me, it's the timing that film companies possess. I'm curious as to what inspires these people to release movies at the same time similar movies have been released by different companies. It happened in '98 with "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact"competing, and then, only months later, "Antz" and "A Bug's Life" went at it. Why Artisan chose to release "Stir of Echoes" right after "The 6th Sense" will forever be beyond my comprehension.
Tom Witzky is a Blue-collar worker in Chicago. He has a loving wife and a son who (we learn right away) can see and speaks to ghosts. One night, at a party, he talks his hippy sister in law, Lisa, to hypnotize him. In doing so, she unknowingly grants him abilities similar (though not as useful) to his son's. Soon, he becomes obsessed with finding out what the sudden, bizarre images he receives mean. He puts the rest of his life on hold, and begins acting in very erratic ways. This slowly begins to alienate his wife and friends, but he doesn't care. The mystery is all that matters to him now.
I don't want to reveal to much more about the plot, because it is revealed in mystery format. In fact, this is the film's greatest problem. Whereas it starts with horror film like images and ideas, it rather suddenly turns into a very obvious murder mystery. So obvious, that the entire audience will most likely know the answer to the mystery about half way through the film.
However, let me point out that there are, in fact, some great aspects to this film. Kevin Bacon turns in a great performance as a man who suddenly possesses a "gift" he doesn't understand. There are some truly creepy scenes in the film, such as when his son is suddenly and very briefly channeling another voice, and a scene in which his wife prepares to take a bath but isn't alone. There is also a wonderful soundtrack which is a nice blend of more modern music, and purely instrumental.
Other than Kevin Bacon, the other actors are uniformly okay, with only Illeana Douglas adding something more to her performance. Zachary Cope gives a decent offering as Tom's son, but he's simply outshone by Haley Joel Osment's turn in "The 6th Sense". The number one flaw is the movie's rather idiotic mystery, as I've already pointed out, but another large problem is the addition of characters who are given nothing to do. For example, Officer Neil (Edddie Bo Smith Jr.) appears to be a man who possesses the same abilities as Tom and Jake, but he isn't in the movie for more than six or seven minutes.
Overall, "Stir of Echoes" could have been a much more interesting movie if only it had been released at a time when the far superior "The 6th Sense" wasn't still fresh in our minds. I do give it three stars and a marginal reccomendation, but wait for video.
* * * * * - One of the greatest movies ever made, see it now.
* * * * - Great flick. Try and catch this one.
* * * - Okay movie, hits and misses.
* * - Pretty bad. See it if you've got nothing better to do.
* - One of the worst movies ever. See it only if you enjoy pain.
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