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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

A door opened. Secrets revealed. Listen.

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The children's TV program where Samatha appears on the TV while Jake is watching on the bed is called Lidsville which aired on ABC from 1971-1973.

---

Goofs

When Tom breaks the window with a stone a Virgin Mary statue is visible behind it. The glass falls to pieces and the statue collapses to the floor. When the camera comes back to the window, Virgin Mary is still standing there, behind the broken window, as nothing has happened.

---

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]
[...]

---

Alternate Versions

On the DVD director's commentary, David Koepp states that for the home video release, the two scenes where words appear blurred on a theatre screen were blurred even more with digital effects. He states that this is because on video, what the text said was obvious well before it should be known to the audience.

---

Connections

Referenced in Dinner for Five: Episode #1.3 (2002)

---

Soundtracks

Stay Awake
Performed by Dishwalla
Written by J.R. Richards, Scot Alexander (as Scott Alexander), Rodney Browning Cravens (as Rodney Browning-Cravens), George Pendergast (as George Pendergrast), Jim Wood and Marc Waterman
Published by EMI April Music Inc./Mono Rat Music (ASCAP), 600 Foot Hedgehog Music and MCA Music Ltd.
Administered by MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios, Inc.
Courtesy of A&M Records, Inc.
Under license from Universal Music Special Markets

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