Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes
Original 1999 theatrical poster
Directed by	David Koepp
Produced by	Judy Hofflund Gavin Polone
Written by	Richard Matheson (novel) David Koepp (screenplay)
Starring	Kevin Bacon Kathryn Erbe Zachary David Cope Illeana Douglas Jennifer Morrison
Music by	James Newton Howard
Cinematography	Fred Murphy
Editing by	Jill Savitt
Distributed by	Artisan Entertainment (USA) 20th Century Fox (non-USA)
Release date(s)	September 10, 1999 (1999-09-10) (US)
Running time	99 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$13,000,000
Box office	$23,000,000+

Stir of Echoes is a supernatural horror / thriller released in the US in 1999, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by David Koepp. The film is loosely based on the novel A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson.

Plot

Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a phone lineman living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and his son Jake (Zachary David Cope), who possesses the ability to commune with the dead. At a party one evening, Tom challenges Maggie's sister Lisa (Illeana Douglas), a believer in paranormal activity and psychic telepathy, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded." Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac (Jennifer Morrison), a 17 year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.

While Tom and Maggie attend a high school football game, Jake is overheard by his babysitter, Debbie Kozac (Liza Weil), as he speaks with Samantha. Debbie gets upset and snatches Jake, running off with him in the night. Meanwhile, Tom senses Jake is in danger and rushes home but finds him gone. Tom then sees strange flashes of red light that eventually leads him to the 'L' station where Debbie is speaking with her mother about Jake. When Tom and Maggie confront her, Debbie angrily questions them about her sister Samantha, explaining that she had an intellectual disability; having the mental capacity of an 8 year-old and thus, a child's tendency to trust strangers. Tom denies knowing her to Debbie, but admits to Maggie that she's the girl in his visions.

Tom becomes obsessed with Samantha and begins probing members of the community about her disappearance. This attracts the attention of his landlord Harry Damon (Conor O'Farrell), Tom's friend, Frank McCarthy (Kevin Dunn) and their respective sons Kurt Damon (Steve Rifkin) and Adam McCarthy (Chalon Williams), who all dismiss Samantha as a runaway teen. During an afternoon walk, Jake and Maggie encounter a policeman named Neil (Eddie Bo Smith Jr.) who immediately recognizes Jake's unique talent and invites Tom to a private gathering of like-minded people to learn more about it. Maggie withholds her conversation with Neil from Tom and goes to the meeting herself where Neil tells her the spirit that contacted Tom has asked for something and will continue to get upset if it doesn't get done. As predicted, Samantha begins plaguing Tom, eventually leading to his insomnia. He goes back to Lisa demanding she undo what she did, but when she hypnotizes him he's told by the spirit to dig. Tom complies and begins digging holes in the backyard and eventually tears up the house in a desperate attempt to appease Samantha.

While Maggie and Jake attend her grandmother's wake at a relative's house, Tom inadvertently knocks down a shoddy brick wall in the basement and discovers Samantha's decomposed remains wrapped in a plastic sheet. He receives a vision showing him that before his family moved in, Adam and Kurt lured Samantha into the house to rape her. When she resisted, they suffocated her and hid her body. Tom brings Frank back to the basement to disclose to him the crime and Frank breaks down and admits that Adam and Kurt had already confided their secret to him and Harry. Frank pulls out a gun and demands to be alone, and as Tom leaves the basement he hears a single shot and assumes Frank committed suicide.

Harry and Kurt suddenly show up and Harry, in his capacity as landlord, voices displeasure with the torn up house. They corner Tom with the intention of killing him to silence him, but Maggie arrives back home and Harry takes her hostage. Frank suddenly emerges from the basement and shoots both Kurt and Harry in order to save Tom and Maggie. Tom then notices Samantha's spirit putting on her glasses and coat, and smiling as she walks down the road and disappears. Afterwards, the family packs up a U-Haul and moves out of the house. Meanwhile, Samantha's mother and sister are finally able to give her a proper funeral and burial. Tom and Maggie smile happily as they drive away but Jake, however, tries to cover his ears to drown out the sound of the overlapping voices in his head.

Cast

• Kevin Bacon .... Tom Witzky
• Kathryn Erbe .... Maggie Witzky
• Zachary David Cope .... Jake Witzky
• Jennifer Morrison .... Samantha Kozac
• Illeana Douglas .... Lisa
• Kevin Dunn .... Frank McCarthy
• Conor O'Farrell .... Harry Damon
• Liza Weil .... Debbie Kozac, the Babysitter
• Lusia Strus .... Sheila McCarthy

Filming

The 1999 film was partly shot at Chicago's historic St. Hyacinth Basilica.

Box office

The film opened at number 3, and made $5,811,664 and stayed in the top 10 for 3 weeks, after a 14 week run, the total domestic gross was $21,073,708. In the UK the film grossed £818,213. Worldwide the film grossed more than $23 million.

Sequel

In 2007, Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming was released as a American television movie produced by Lions Gate Entertainment. The film premiered on the Sci Fi Channel. Originally titled The Dead Speak, it was written and directed by Ernie Barbarash and purports to be a sequel to the 1999 feature film Stir of Echoes, although its only connection to the previous work is the inclusion of Jake Witzky, who had a key role in the original film but is only a secondary character here.

External links

• Stir of Echoes at the Internet Movie Database
• Stir of Echoes at AllRovi