STIR OF ECHOES
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then THE SIXTH SENSE,
the surprise hit of the summer, should feel honored by STIR OF ECHOES
since the stories are like fraternal twins. Both have frightening,
horror picture elements and both feature a young boy who communicates
with dead people.
The trouble lies in their differences.
STIR OF ECHOES, which by comparison might more aptly be titled NO SENSE,
insults the viewers' intelligence at every turn. Writer and director
David Koepp falls back on every clich� in the book to advance the
storyline. The overly serious movie will likely have you laughing out
loud at some of the film's ridiculously implausible and downright silly
parts.
In contrast to Haley Joel Osment's brilliant performance as the boy in
THE SIXTH SENSE, Zachary David Cope gives a loquacious but emotionless
performance as Jake Witzky, a 5-year-old "receiver." Dead people speak
and he receives, you see, not that his parents pay attention to him when
he's yammering away with his companions from the spirit world.
With the top billing and the most screen time, a grizzled Kevin Bacon
plays Jake's father, Tom, a blue-collar worker who lives in "the nicest
neighborhood in Chicago." (As soon as you hear this phrase repeated,
you know, of course, that the place will be filled with neighbors that
will prove not quite so wonderful after all.)
After his sister-in-law (Illeana Douglas) hypnotizes Tom, he
accidentally becomes a receiver too, causing him much mental anguish.
Popping pills like candy, he runs around like a wild man who suffers
from killer migraines. It's an embarrassingly bad, over-the-top
performance for an actor as good as Bacon.
There's even the equivalent of a Receiver's Anonymous meeting to which
Tom is invited. Too bad he doesn't go; it could have supplied some
much-needed levity.
"Come on, what's the worst that can happen?" Tom asks rhetorically,
egging on his sister-in-law when he wants her to hypnotize him. A lot
it turns out. In an attempt to gross out the audience, Tom pulls out
his own front tooth, causing a small river of blood - all this because
he begins to do a mind meld with the ghost who has come calling.
When Tom has sex with his wife, he has visions of another woman but a
dead one. The movie's best line mixes Tom's notorious wandering eye
with his current predicament. "I'm not shocked there's another woman,"
his sister-in-law tells his wife. "That she's dead gives one pause."
"What exactly don't you understand?" an agitated Tom asks his wife, who
never seems to get it. For viewers the list of things they don't
understand would be long. At the top of such list of conundrums might
be why he would choose to fill his refrigerator completely full of
nothing but dozens of large containers of orange juice?
STIR OF ECHOES desperately tries to ride on THE SIXTH SENSE's coattails.
Even if it's not quite as bad as THE HAUNTING, which established the low
point for this year's horror flicks, STIR OF ECHOES would be better
saved for video, when you can keep your finger on the fast-forward
button in order to skip the more preposterous incidents. Actually,
skipping it all would be a better strategy entirely.
STIR OF ECHOES runs 1:40. It is rated R for violence, sexuality and
language and would be acceptable for most teenagers.
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