Stir of Echoes (1999)

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 him.

Director:

David Koepp

Writers:

Richard Matheson (novel), David Koepp (screenplay)

Stars:

Kevin Bacon, Zachary David Cope, Kathryn Erbe

3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

A man is hypnotized at a party by his sister-in law. He soon has visions and dreams of a ghost of a girl. Trying to avoid this, nearly pushes him to brink of insanity as the ghost wants something from him - to find out how she died. The only way he can get his life back is finding out the truth behind her death. The more he digs, the more he lets her in, the shocking truth behind her death puts his whole family in danger.

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Plot Keywords:

hypnosis | seeing a ghost | missing person | psychic power | haunted house | 

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Taglines:

Some doors weren't meant to be opened.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

A lot of people on blogs have wondered how the "creepwalk" was filmed. Here's the secret. The speed of the camera was sped up, and the actress was told to walk as slowly, but to appear as naturally as possible. Then when it was time to edit the scene in, they played the footage at normal speed and all the "imperfections" in her walk add to the beauty of how creepy it looks.

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Goofs

When Tom is digging, his hands are dirty. When he starts arguing with his wife and waving his hands around, they are clean.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jake Witzky: [to someone] Okay. Guess who came over to play...
[singing]
Jake Witzky: Superheros. I was Black Power Ranger. He was Batman.
Tom Witzky: Jake, you okay in there buddy?
Jake Witzky: I'm okay.
[to whoever else]
Jake Witzky: Can I ask you a question?
Tom Witzky: Okay, time to hit the sack.
[coming into the bathroom]
[...]

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Alternate Versions

In the bathroom scene where Maggie disrobes, the television version shows her wearing black panties rather than her bare buttocks as in the original.

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Connections

References Mannix (1967)

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Soundtracks

Nothing But The Shell
Performed by Steve Wynn
Written by Steve Wynn and Eric Ambel
Courtesy of Zero Hour Records

User Reviews

Suspenseful and horrifying story, well written and directed by David Koepp

This creepy thriller concerns about a family, when the marriage goes to a party into a calmed neighboring, happen weird events. Tom (Kevin Bacon, Sleepers) being hypnotized by his sister in law(Ileana Douglas), then, he winds up with clairvoyant abilities that link to disappeared teen girl(Jennifer Morrison, today famous by House). These faculties also have traumatized his young boy( similarly to kid in ¨The sixth sense, he isn't only one seeing dead), carrying the fear under his frail shoulders, but he can communicate with the deceased adolescent and presumed missing. Tom and son's visions lead to have problems with his wife(Kathryn Erbe, Law and Order) and friends(Kevin Dunn, secondary in Gozzilla). It leads to unexpected and breakthrough twist ending about what's happened before.

The movie packs suspense, tension, shocks, grisly horror and eerie scenes when the ghoul appear. The film takes accent as the suspense as well as the terror. Provides an imaginative, highly original and well-knit screenplay by David Koepp, also director, and based on novel by Richard Matheson. Sinister and mysterious atmosphere is finely made by cameraman Fred Murphy. Creepy music score fitting to the horror film by James Newton Howard, he's habitual maker of frightening atmospheres such as ¨Sixth sense, Devil's advocate¨ and composer of all films by Night Shyamalan. The motion picture is well directed by David Koepp, a famous screenwriter(Zathura, War of the worlds, Spiderman, Mission impossible) and occasionally director(Secret window,The trigger effect). The flick will like to terror fans because gets decent scares and intense sequences of horror.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Korean

Release Date:

10 September 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stir of Echoes

Filming Locations:

Oak Woods Cemetery - 1035 E 67th St, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,811,664, 12 September 1999

Gross USA:

$21,142,914

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,142,914

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artisan Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1