Stir Of Echoes

Kevin Bacon is, undoubtedly, one of the most under-appreciated actors of our time. Like Gary Oldman, he can always be trusted to turn out a solid performance, yet he has never won that holy grail of acting, an Academy Award. Well today I'm going to look at one of his movies, the supernatural thriller, Stir Of Echoes.

Released in 1999 under the direction of David Koepp (Secret Window), and loosely based on the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, Stir Of Echoes stars Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erben and Jennifer Morrison. It tells the tale of a family man who begins to experience visions of a tormented soul, and attempts to unravel the mystery. It's nothing exceptional, but it's well acted, well paced, and, at times, is actually pretty unsettling.

Tom Witzky (Bacon) is a blue collar man; normal, regular, completely unremarkable. A loving husband to Maggie (Erbe) and father to Jake, living with his family in Chicago. One night, while at a party at a friends house, Maggie's sister Lisa is talked into hypnotising Tom. Her hope is to make him more open-minded, but in doing so, she opens a 'door' in his mind, which allows mental entities to enter freely. As a result of this, Tom begins to experience visions of a teenage girl on a regular basis, and he is unsure what she wants.

Tom son's Jake, it turns out, has a similar ability, but is far more in control of it. Coincidentally, the girl that he can communicate with is the same one that Tom has been seeing. Her name is Samantha Kozac (Morrison), and one night, while Tom and Maggie are at a football game, without knowing of Sam's existence, they hire Sam's sister Debbie, a babysitter, to look after Jake. But Debbie overhears Jake talking to Samantha, and takes him from the house. Tom 'senses' this event, and runs from the game to rescue him. Tom finds out that Samantha disappeared, and her mother and sister are desperate to find her.

With the incessant hauntings, Tom is driven to madness and obsession, and appeasing the spirit leads him to unravel a grisly crime that has been hidden under his very nose.

The film is a pretty basic psychological thriller. A guy has a weird gift, and it causes him to see weird things. The special effects back them up well, and the struggle that Tom endures is beautifully portrayed by Bacon, and while the supporting characters are never given a lot of screen time, they do a good job. The build-up is always interesting and the climax is a great payoff. It's nothing special, but as a straight-up supernatural movie, it's very enjoyable.