One is always surrounded by the echoes of their spirits in a world where ghosts linger between life and death. ‘Stir of Echoes’ explores a cosmos in which it seeks assistance from beyond the grave. All set in a community plagued by suspicious neighbors and tragic family secrets, the trail leads to past discoveries, disappearances, and enigmatic ghosts. The tagline says it all: ‘Some doors were never meant to be opened.’
The film recounts the life of Kevin Bacon’s character, a family guy who becomes engrossed in a murder mystery and obsessed with a plea for aid from beyond the grave. The film, directed by David Koepp, gets under your skin, and it is impossible to foresee what will happen as the plot progresses.
Some doors weren’t meant to be opened – Stir of Echoes (1999)
The film begins with a view of a little boy named Jake bathing and talking to himself. The child’s father, Tom Witzky, can be seen keeping an eye on him as the camera pans out. As Tom leaves the room, Jake talks to the dead and it appears that he can communicate with the dead. The film was overshadowed by the earlier release of ‘The Sixth Sense,’ which also featured a child, who could see the dead.
As Tom makes his way downstairs, we learn that he has a mediocre job, and he lives with his wife Maggie and their son Jake in a small town in Chicago. Maggie’s sister Lisa visits the family, and Maggie announces her pregnancy. Tom is caught off guard but takes the news pleasantly as the couple discusses their future. Later on, the couple heads out for a party with Lisa. The character ‘Lisa Weil’ was named after the same actress who later on plays the role of Jake’s babysitter.
At the party, Tom challenges Lisa, who believes in hypnosis and psychic telepathy, to hypnotize him. She agrees to hypnotize him, and after putting Tom to sleep, she nudges him to be more open-minded. During the process, a safety pin gets pushed through Tom’s hand and he gets a mild injury. Coming back to his senses, Tom appears to be visibly shaken and it is clear that something has changed. To keep the special effects minimal, the scene with the safety pin was completely real and performed by a stunt double.
He then begins to see visions of a young girl, who is caught up in sexual violence. We later learn that the girl is Samantha Kozak, a teenager who had vanished from the area six months before. As Tom returns to reality, the couple leaves for a football game while Debbie, Jake’s babysitter, takes care of him. However, it so happens that Debbie overhears Tom talking to Samantha.
She becomes agitated, sensing something wrong she takes Jake with her. Tom hurries back home, only to discover that Jake has vanished. Tom then sees strange visions, and follows the lights, they find Jake with Debbie, as well as a lady, who turns out to be Debbie’s mother. Debbie had talked about Jake with her mother, she tells the couple. In the original script, Debbie runs away with Jake because she suspects that the Witzkys are abusing their child.
However, in a twist of events, we learn that Debbie is Samantha’s lost sister. She reveals that Samantha had a mental disability that caused her to have the intellectual capacity of an 8-year-old. It appears that this disability caused her to have a child’s predisposition and Samantha would trust just about anyone.
Tom denies any association with Samantha, and the couple returns home. Later, he confesses to his wife and tells her about seeing Samantha in his visions. As Tom has failed to succeed in his career, he seems even more determined to get justice for Samantha. He believes this to be his one chance to prove his worth.
As the visions occur, he even ends up developing a crush on Samantha. He inquires around and asks the neighbors about the young girl’s disappearance. His suspicious behavior is noticed by his landlord, Harry. Tom meets with Harry as well as Frank McCarthy; and their sons, Kurt Damon and Adam McCarthy join them. The group discusses Samantha’s disappearance and they assume that she has run away from home.
Later on, the couple takes a walk and comes across a funeral gathering. They meet a cop named Neil who figures out Jake’s ability to see the dead. He offers Tom to join a group of people, who look into such paranormal activities. Keeping it a secret from her husband, Maggie also decides to join the group.
The cop informs her that the ghosts in Tom’s visions will not give up until their wish is fulfilled and they will become agitated. As expected, Samantha begins to bother Tom even more so, and he ends up having trouble sleeping.
A worried Tom returns to Lisa, asking her to hypnotize him again to reverse the procedure. As Lisa hypnotizes him, he sees visions of Samantha demanding him to look through the house, and even dig it up. The hypnosis processes in the movie included real hypnosis techniques, only with a tune at the end to make sure it does not put the audience to sleep.
While Maggie leaves to attend a funeral with Jake, Tom listens to Samantha’s cries and tries to tear down the house. In a desperate attempt to placate Samantha, he begins digging trenches in the backyard, eventually tearing down the house.
He digs through the basement and ends up accidentally breaking down a weak brick wall, where he discovers the young girl’s decaying bones covered in a plastic sheet. At the same time, Tom has a vision of Adam and Kurt luring Samantha in and sexually assaulting her before he and his family had moved in. They accidentally smothered her and hid her body when she struggled.
Tom’s visions of Samantha are reminiscent of ‘The Changeling,’ and the movies share a premise of a murdered child calling for revenge. It also resembles instances from The Shining and The BlairWitch Project; films that were released earlier in the 1980s. However, since this movie was based on a book written by Richard Matheson in 1958 and any resemblance to the movies mentioned above was purely coincidental.
Learning the truth, he rushes to find Frank and informs him of the assault. Frank ends up crying as he explains that the boys had previously informed him about their secret. He threatens Tom, pulls a revolver out of his pocket, and asks to be left alone. Tom leaves, and a single gunshot is heard behind his back. He feels that the guilt has finally consumed Frank, and he has committed suicide.
Meanwhile, Harry Damon and his son Kurt show up out of nowhere, and Harry, who is the landlord expresses his unhappiness with the damage done to the basement. The duo tackle Tom, intending to kill him to bury the secret forever, but just then Maggie returns home. Harry ends up injuring Maggie, as he attempts to kidnap her.
In order to save Tom and Maggie, Frank finally comes out from the cellar and fatally kills both Harry and Kurt. It turns out that Frank was actually alive, and he tries to do the right thing after his guilt gets the better of him.
Finally, Tom discovers Samantha’s presence as her ghost materializes. She smiles while putting on her spectacles and coat, and walks away, as she disappears. Soon after, Tom and his family move out of the residence and drive away.
Samantha’s decaying bones are restored, as her family finally gets their chance at putting up a decent funeral and a burial for Samantha. Tom’s desire to be useful is finally fulfilled, as he sets things right at the end. In the finale, as the family drives away, Jake tries to block out the sound of the overlapping voices of spirits by covering his head as the screen fades to black.
Why should you watch Stir of Echoes?
Dabbling in the supernatural horror genre, ‘Stir of Echoes’ is a truly hypnotizing film. With outstanding performances, a compelling storyline and visual effects that gives one the creeps, the movie is certainly very engrossing. With a duration of 99 minutes, the film is perfectly paced and manages to keep the suspense until the last minute.
It was also followed by a sequel titled “Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming [2007]”. If you enjoy a blend of mystery with horror, “Stir of Echoes” is the perfect underrated flick to go for!