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Stir of Echoes

Play trailer Poster for Stir of Echoes R 1999 1h 39m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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70% Tomatometer 113 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Blue-collar family man Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) scoffs at supernatural phenomena -- until he lets his wife's sister, Lisa (Illeana Douglas), put him into a hypnotic trance. Upon waking, Tom realizes he has a psychic connection with his son, Jake (Zachary David Cope). He also has alarming hallucinations of a missing teenage neighbor named Samantha (Jennifer Morrison). Tom, convinced his visions will lead him to the girl, begins a desperate search that puts him into a life-threatening situation.
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Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes

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Critics Consensus

Kevin Bacon's acting is so genuine that it's creepy and director David Keopp knows how to create true suspense.

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Critics Reviews

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David Ansen Newsweek 03/06/2018
As the plot kicks in, the hysteria mounts and the explanations start coming, the tension starts to dissipate. Like Bacon's strenuous attempt to sound working class, the movie tries too hard. Go to Full Review
Lisa Alspector Chicago Reader 12/10/2007
[A] serious, atmospheric, character-driven supernatural drama. Go to Full Review
Time Out 06/24/2006
The skillful shock cuts will make you jump out of your skin, but it's the digital visualisation of the ghostly Samantha which really makes the flesh crawl. Go to Full Review
Max Allen Horror Movie Talk Dec 4
7/10
While Stir of Echoes is not a very scary movie, the mystery did reel me in and by act 2 I was pretty invested in uncovering the truth. Kevin Bacon does a really good job of portraying a decent into madness... Go to Full Review
Patrick Cavanaugh The Wolfman Cometh Sep 12
3/5
Not 1999's best ghost story, but Kevin Bacon is incredibly watchable and the movie offers a handful of creepy sequences. Go to Full Review
Sharai Bohannon A Nightmare On Fierce Street Podcast Jan 30
3.5/5
This movie is still just as effective and creepy as it was when it came out over 25 years ago. It is perhaps the best Kevin Bacon-led horror we have gotten thus far. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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kish b Nov 17 ★★★★☆ Stir of Echoes is a criminally underrated 1999 supernatural chiller that still packs one of the most genuinely unsettling punches in the genre. Kevin Bacon delivers one of his best performances ever as Tom Witzky, an ordinary Chicago lineman who gets hypnotized at a party "for fun" and wakes up seeing dead people (specifically one very pissed-off dead girl who won’t leave him alone). Bacon sells the slow descent from skepticism to obsession to full-blown terror so convincingly that you feel his sanity unraveling in real time. The supporting cast is perfect: Kathryn Erbe as the worried wife, Illeana Douglas as the sister-in-law who accidentally opened the door, and little Zachary David Cope as the creepy-calm kid who sees ghosts like it’s Tuesday. David Koepp (directing his own script) nails the working-class Chicago atmosphere: row houses, neighborhood bars, Friday-night football games, and digs that feel lived-in instead of movie sets. The scares are old-school brilliant: flickering lights, sudden reflections, that fingernail-scraping-down-the-wall sound, and one jump scare with a rocking chair that still makes me yelp twenty-five years later. The reveal is bleak, disturbing, and perfectly earned, and the final shot of the house going silent is pure nightmare fuel. Four stars: one for Bacon’s all-in performance, one for the relentless tension, one for the grounded blue-collar vibe that makes the supernatural feel scarier, and one because it somehow manages to be both a ghost story and a tragedy about buried secrets in plain sight. Smarter, meaner, and way creepier than most people remember. 8/10. "I hear it. I see it. I’m not going to let it go." Neither will you. 👻🔨🏠 See more Ti H. @Tisha Oct 22 To those who say the movie wasn't really that profound you need to realize it was based on a book published in 1958 and it was ahead of its time ahead of sixth sense so if there's any fault to be had in this movie it's with the direction because Kevin Bacon brings home the bacon. It's watchable because of him, and because of Kathryn Erbe, and Illeana Douglas--all highly entertaining. A+++❣️❣️❣️ See more Rich F Oct 14 By today's standards the mystery itself isn't all that perplexing, but despite its predictable nature the film remains a masterclass in entertainment. See more Shawna R Oct 14 THE perfect ghost story with an eerie tale that stays with you long after the credits roll See more Calvin T @Calvin504 Sep 30 Not the best or worst....... See more Gabriel T @GabrielFagundes Aug 15 Overall, the movie is good, but it has some downsides: the lack of creativity (it quite resembles "The sixth sense" and "Final destination", both released around the same time) and some of the main character's decisions weren't logical, like not talking about risk of death with his partner. The kid was also really unrealistic See more Read all reviews
Stir of Echoes

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Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - The Attack Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - The Attack 3:38 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Make Her Stop! Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Make Her Stop! 3:28 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - A Corpse in the Wall Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - A Corpse in the Wall 1:38 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Don't Be Afraid of It Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Don't Be Afraid of It 3:40 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - I'm Supposed to Dig Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - I'm Supposed to Dig 1:55 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - She's Taking Him Away! Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - She's Taking Him Away! 3:49 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Want to See What I've Got? Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - Want to See What I've Got? 2:58 Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - The Horrors of Hypnosis Stir of Echoes: Official Clip - The Horrors of Hypnosis 3:13 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Blue-collar family man Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) scoffs at supernatural phenomena -- until he lets his wife's sister, Lisa (Illeana Douglas), put him into a hypnotic trance. Upon waking, Tom realizes he has a psychic connection with his son, Jake (Zachary David Cope). He also has alarming hallucinations of a missing teenage neighbor named Samantha (Jennifer Morrison). Tom, convinced his visions will lead him to the girl, begins a desperate search that puts him into a life-threatening situation.
Director
David Koepp
Producer
Judy Hofflund, Gavin Polone
Screenwriter
Richard Matheson, David Koepp
Distributor
Artisan Entertainment, Miramax Films
Production Co
Artisan Entertainment
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 10, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 7, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$21.1M
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
SDDS, Dolby Digital, Surround
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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