Stir of Echoes
rated R 99 minutes starring Kevin Bacon, Illena Douglas, and Kathryn Erbe directed by David Koepp
A Video Review by Frankie Paiva
Bad things happen in big cities. So many films have been telling us this in the past year, and for the Witzky family, there's no exception. While drunk at a neighborhood party Tom Witzky (Bacon) dares his sister Lisa (Douglas) to hypnotize him, thinking that all hypnotism is a hoax. He learns that it is very real. After waking up from his trance, Lisa refers to him as one of the, "Lucky 8%" the people who can really be intensely under a spell. After the party things begin to happen. Tom begins receiving sudden flashes of images that he can make no sense of. The one he's the most obsessive about is a pale teenage girl who he thought he saw sitting on his couch. Even worse, Tom's son Jake has been talking to an invisible girl he calls Samantha, it appears the two of them are thinking and conversing with the same person. And while it at party, Tom learns that Lisa said he needed to be more open-minded. Who knows what that could have done?
More images come, and the more that appear, the more Tom is compelled to find an answer to them. His search for answers includes digging up his entire backyard, jackhammering his entire basement, and creating a large hole in the house's beautiful wood floor. All of this horrifies his wife Maggie (Erbe), who isn't sure how much more of this she can take.
This is a thriller that effectively stirs up some suspense, while many scenes in the film are more than slightly outrageous, the sudden flash of images is fun and exciting and keeps the moviegoer guessing. It stays that way for a while, until the movie reaches it's conclusion, and wraps itself up so neat and tidy that nothing is left unexplained or to the imagination, one of the keys to a great thriller. Acting is surprisingly first rate with Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, and young Zachary David Cope giving above average performances. The only real thing that bugged me about the picture was that Maggie stayed with her husband for almost the entire time. Nothing entirely plausible happens, yet she seems to take it all in without too much of a panic. The soundtrack is also notable and sets some of the gritty tone for the film. Finally a movie that gets close to the amount of thrills it wants to achieve. Not many echoes stirring here, but there's a whole lot of mystery, a whole lot of confusion, and a whole lot of fun.
B-
Frankie Paiva SwpStke@aol.com http://www.homestead.com/CinemaParadise/mainpage.html
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