Stir of Echoes (Film Review)

1999 Artisan Entertainment
Written and Directed by: David Koepp (Based on the Novel A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson)
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, and Kevin Dunn
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 100 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

Tom Witzky is a Chicago lineman whose life hasn't reached the lofty rock star heights of his dreams. Instead, he's living in a working class neighborhood with his pregnant wife and weirdo son, and ensuring the city has proper electricity. It's all such a big disappointment, until a family friend hypnotizes him, opening his third eye to the world of the unknown...and the waiting ghost of Samantha Kozac. Samantha wants Tom to solve her murder...and now he's obsessed with doing so, no matter how it affects his family, his neighbors, and his townhouse flooring.
1999s ghost story film, Stir of Echoes, was vastly overlooked because it was released at the same time as all-time classic ghost story film, The Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense cracked the all-time top-ten box office, was nominated for numerous awards, and was regarded as housing the greatest child acting performance of all-time. In the blinding shine of The Sixth Sense's floodlight, Stir of Echoes' effective penlight went unseen...which is a shame because, while Stir of Echoes can barely tug The Sixth Sense's cape, it is an effective, fun little thriller. 

As Tom, Kevin Bacon is fun and energetic. Kathryn Erbe gives an enjoyable little firecracker performance as his alarmed, yet supportive wife. Illeana Douglas yuks it up as the couple's quirky hippie friend, who it turns out is an ace hypnotist. The autumnal atmosphere is...well who doesn't like a good autumnal atmosphere? David Koepp may not be 1999 M. Night Shyamalan, but his atmosphere is perfectly conjured. He even employs The Sixth Sense's composer, James Newton Howard, to pound out some perfectly atmospheric minutes of music. The film does fall into silliness quite a few times, but it's always pulled out by Bacon and Erbe's magnetism, and Koepp's lean storytelling and effective thrills. I might take The Sixth Sense over Stir of Echoes nine out of ten times, but just the fact that I'd want to give it one of those ten slots shows there's still some 1999 supernatural thriller magic in Stir of Echoes.