Far better than Sixth Sense (Stir of Echoes (DVD))

Member Name: cjkace

Product:	Stir of Echoes (DVD)
Date:	12/07/01 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting, spooky, good story

Disadvantages: Easy to guess the ending

I own both Sixth Sense and Stir of Echoes on DVD, and the latter I bought because it was supposedly similar to Sixth Sense. Well the only similarity is that both have children in that can see ghosts, and the similarity ends there. Although Sixth Sense has a better ending, Stir of Echoes is a lot better overall.

Stir of Echoes stars Kevin Bacon (of Footloose fame) who seems to be an ordinary, everyday working man, at least until he is hypnotised at a party. After this he keeps getting flashbacks (and in some cases portents) concerning a young girl and the house in which he is living. To his surprise he finds that his young son can also see the girl and communicate with her.

Unfortunately for him these events happen at sporadic intervals and he begins to get obsessed with finding out what went on, and obviously to try and get all this stuff out of his head. When he finds out the girls name, he questions his neighbours, only to be stone walled and this makes him all the more determined to find the truth.

His wife (Kathryn Erbe) feels more and more left out of the events unfolding around her, as she cannot sense any of what is going on and her sense of frustration comes across very well, although not as well as the mother of the boy in Sixth Sense, but the acting is still excellent.

Thats the basic storyline. I'm not telling anymore as I don't like spoiling films. Kevin Bacon is absolutely superb in this movie, as the events being played out in his head, drive him into obsession. There are some genuinely chilling and spooky moments in the film, something that I felt was lacking in Sixth Sense, and Bacon portrays them brilliantly.

The DVD is ok in the extra features department, containing a Director's commentary, TV spots (haven't watched them), a music video called 'Breathe' by Moist?, and a behind the scenes featurette. I can't really comment on how good the film has been transferred as I hav
en't seen it on any other medium, but it looks very crisp with little sign of compression artifacts.

If you liked Sixth Sense, then watch this. Yes you'll probably guess the ending, but the acting by Kevin Bacon and his on-screen family is brilliant and worth getting the film for alone. There are some shocking scenes in it (a manual tooth extraction made me cringe) but they add to the atmosphere a lot.

Summary: