Stir of Echoes (1999)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

David Koepp

Writers (WGA):

Richard Matheson (novel)
David Koepp (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Some doors weren't meant to be opened.

Plot:

After being hypnotized by his sister in law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Chicago | Party | Sister In Law | Girl

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Zachary David Cope	...	Jake Witzky
Kevin Bacon	...	Tom Witzky
Kathryn Erbe	...	Maggie Witzky
Illeana Douglas	...	Lisa Weil
Kevin Dunn	...	Frank McCarthy
Conor O'Farrell	...	Harry Damon
Lusia Strus	...	Sheila McCarthy
Stephen Eugene Walker	...	Bobby
Mary Kay Cook	...	Vanessa Damon
Larry Neumann Jr.	...	Lenny
Jennifer Morrison	...	Samantha Kozac (as Jenny Morrison)
Richard Cotovsky	...	Neighborhood Man
Steve Rifkin	...	Kurt Damon
Chalon Williams	...	Adam McCarthy
Liza Weil	...	Debbie Kozac, the Babysitter

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Japan:PG-12 | Iceland:16 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Philippines:R-18 | Italy:VM14 (cinema rating) | Italy:VM18 (tv rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Hungary:16 | Ireland:18 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Artisan Entertainment

Trivia:

In an earlier version of David Koepp's script, there were some important differences from the finished movie: - Maggie Witzky's hypnotist sister Lisa was actually a brother called Philip. - To find out what was wrong with him, Tom Witzky had an MRI scan done by a cousin of Maggie's, a neurologist named Elizabeth. - We found out that Tom Witzky had first met his wife while working as a lifeguard. His psychic abilities helped save her from drowning. - Instead of accusing the Witzkys of having something to do with her sister's disappearance, the young babysitter was worried they were abusing their son. Tom found out she was being abused by her stepfather and chased him out of town. - At the end of the movie, Maggie gave birth to a girl with the same psychic abilities as the couple's son.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Lisa tells Maggie the baby she is expecting will be a Gemini, and that "Einstein was a Gemini". In fact, Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, making him a Pisces.

Quotes:

Maggie Witzky: WHY ARE YOU DIGGING?

Movie Connections:

References "Mannix" (1967)

Soundtrack:

It's Not The Spotlight

Bacon 'Cooks' As An Unwilling Medium...

I have always admired and marveled at Kevin Bacon's versatility as an actor. From the likable fish-out-of-water guy who trips the light-fantastic through a piece of fluff like FOOTLOOSE, to putting everything on the line to play a pedophile in the unnerving THE WOODSMAN, there's hardly anything he can't - or won't do - to show his amazing range.

That being said, STIR OF ECHOES still holds what is for me one of his all-time Top Five performances.

He plays Tom Witzky, a regular mug living with his family in a working-class suburb of Chicago. Though he loves his family, hotter-than-hot wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and precocious son Jake (Zachary David Cope), he's also a man becoming bored with his life. He wants to do and be something more than who and what he is.

Obviously, the old adage "be careful what you wish for" went right over Tom's head.

At a party for family and friends, Tom volunteers to be hypnotized by his flaky sister-in-law, Lisa (the always excellent Illeana Douglas), who makes a powerful suggestion to Tom that his mind takes literally. What happens next will change his life and everyone's around him forever.

A 'doorway' has been opened inside Tom's head that allows him to communicate with the dead, and for them to reach out and touch him...whether he wants to or not. When the "nightmares" that he's been having begin to intensify, Tom knows he must find a way to close that doorway for good before he loses his family...and his sanity. The urgency is heightened when he discovers how sensitive he was before the hypnotic suggestion, in the most chilling way possible...it seems that son Jake can see and talk to the dead as well.

In the tradition of THE CHANGELING, LADY IN WHITE and THE SIXTH SENSE, the focus of Tom's visions comes from one apparition in particular, who won't leave him or his family in peace until he can figure out what it wants and why. The situation provides fodder for one intense and terrifying performance, and with help from a strong supporting cast, Bacon comes through like a champ.

When movies like this are adapted from older works by classic authors, I usually proceed with the greatest caution. But Richard Matheson's creepy novel has been skillfully transformed by David Koepp, a man who knows a little bit about balancing thoughtful plotting and dialogue with outright terror, (as in APARTMENT ZERO) and the outstanding job he does here will make you think twice the next time somebody wants to 'put you out' at a party with something more than just shots of Captain Morgan...