Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Day 19/31: Stir of Echoes (1999)
Who Made it?
Directed by: David Kopek (Secret Window, Ghost Town)
What Was it About?
In the vein of “I can see dead people,” after Tom (Kevin Bacon) is hypnotised at a party, he starts seeing the ghost of a dead girl in his house.
In a case of very bad timing, Stir of Echoes was released the same year as The Sixth Sense. No one could predict how big the latter was going to be and in a traffic jam of praise for M. Night’s film this one got lost. Which was a damn shame because I would argue Stir of Echoes is just as creepy, atmospheric and genuinely chilling as The Sixth Sense, only lacking some of the deeper emotional themes and complexities found in Sixth Sense as Echoes is purposefully a mystery movie with a supernatural twist. Kind of like The Ring meets Hideaway (1995).
Not only is Kevin Bacon in fine form as the poor man whose sister-in-law unwittingly unlocked some type of latent psychic ability, forcing him to figure out what happened to the ghastly spirit that’s haunting him if he ever wants another day of peace, but the rest of the cast is also quite good.
The supernatural elements are effective, the pacing is perfect and the mystery is a captivating one. It’s just a shame this movie flew so far under the radar that many people don’t even know it exists! I saw this in cinema way back when double features were still a thing and while I can’t remember what the other movie was, this one stuck with me in a big way. Stir of Echoes is a must for fans of supernatural thrillers with a somber tone meant to scare and ensnare you in equal measure.
Favourite Scene
There are a lot of genuinely chilling moments to be found in this movie but the one that got me was a simple jump scare and I’m not afraid to admit it as it’s executed flawlessly. Seeing that so many haven’t seen this movie I’ll just say it comes early in the movie and involves Tom watching television. Here’s hoping it gets you too!
Fun Trivia
The movie is compared to The Shining by Stephen King a lot. Stir of Echoes is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, which was released way back in 1958, before King wrote The Shining. With Stephen King being a huge fan of Matheson, one could argue The Shining was inspired by Stir of Echoes instead.
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More