Stir of Echoes ** (out of 5) (1999)

Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Liza Weil, Kevin Dunn

Directed by David Koepp


A blue collar man undergoes hypnosis as a prank, and a suggestion is left that he have an open mind. Shortly thereafter he begins to see frightening visions involving a young girl named Samantha that has been missing for some time. He must find the key to the mystery before he goes completely insane.

A STIR OF ECHOES is a skillfully directed horror piece that has a few interesting ideas, but suffers from being unpleasant and derivative. Good acting by Kevin Bacon and Koepp's goth-tinged direction keeps the flimsy story together, however the "a person has visions from someone dead and must find out what happened to make them stop" has been done so many times that most viewers will know where things are headed long before they get there, and the film becomes uninteresting very early on. The film is watchable for most of the way, but a ridiculous resolution to the visions and a dissatisfying ending sinks the film to the point of being preposterous. Perhaps A STIR OF YAWNS would have been a more fitting title.


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