SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: STIR OF ECHOES

"STIR OF ECHOES"
(1999) (Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Heavy	Extreme	Extreme	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	Heavy	Extreme	None	Extreme

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Mild	Heavy	Moderate	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Horror/Suspense/Thriller: After coming out of hypnosis, a man's sudden visions of a dead teenager not only lead to thoughts that he might be going crazy, but also to an obsessive quest to solve the girl's identity and find out what may have happened to her.

PLOT:

Tom Witzky (KEVIN BACON) is a phone company lineman who's moved into a recently renovated rental home not far from where he grew up in Chicago. Although he's got a beautiful wife, Maggie (KATHRYN ERBE), and an adorable little boy, Jake (ZACHARY DAVID COPE), Tom isn't thrilled with his life since he's never amounted to much and thinks of himself as just ordinary.

Unbeknownst to him, all of that's about to change. Attending a neighborhood party with friends such as Frank McCarthy (KEVIN DUNN), Tom challenges Maggie's sister, Lisa (ILLEANA DOUGLAS), to hypnotize him after voicing his doubts about such matters. Although she's reluctant, she does so, and when Tom finally comes out of it, he experiences some odd and disorienting sensations and visions, as well as an insatiable thirst.

He doesn't think much of it, but after seeing the ghost of a dead teenage girl sitting next to him on the couch as well as odd flashes of blood red light, Tom starts to worry about what he's seeing. After Jake informs him that he's seen the same girl, Samantha (JENNIFER MORRISON), Tom becomes obsessed with figuring out what's going on. No longer going to work, he then spends his time on the sofa trying to see this girl again, hoping to find answers to his newfound power.

Of course Maggie doesn't understand this sudden change in her husband, although a chance encounter with a mysterious local cop (EDDIE BO SMITH, JR.) does give her some insight into the special powers that Tom and their son apparently possess. With more troubling visions and an increasing urgency to have his questions answered, Tom's obsession grows to the point where he soon endangers his personal as well as family's well-being.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: The similarity of this film to the successful "The Sixth Sense" may interest some kids into wanting to see it.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For violence, sexuality and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: KEVIN BACON plays a married blue collar linesman who's not satisfied with his life. All of that changes when he suddenly experiences visions of a dead girl that soon drive him into an obsession with discovering what happened to her. As such, he behaves like a lunatic, nearly drives his wife from their home and cusses a lot.
KATHRYN ERBE plays his loving wife who can't figure out what's happened to her husband. She also cusses.
ILLEANA DOUGLAS plays the sister-in-law who hypnotizes Tom and unleashes his secret "all seeing" powers. She also uses strong profanity and refers to having just smoked a joint in one scene.
JENNIFER MORRISON plays the dead girl who's haunting both Tom and Jake.
ZACHARY DAVID COPE plays Tom's young son who also can see dead people.
KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.; KATHRYN ERBE plays his loving wife who can't figure out what's happened to her husband. She also cusses.
ILLEANA DOUGLAS plays the sister-in-law who hypnotizes Tom and unleashes his secret "all seeing" powers. She also uses strong profanity and refers to having just smoked a joint in one scene.
JENNIFER MORRISON plays the dead girl who's haunting both Tom and Jake.
ZACHARY DAVID COPE plays Tom's young son who also can see dead people.
KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.; ILLEANA DOUGLAS plays the sister-in-law who hypnotizes Tom and unleashes his secret "all seeing" powers. She also uses strong profanity and refers to having just smoked a joint in one scene.
JENNIFER MORRISON plays the dead girl who's haunting both Tom and Jake.
ZACHARY DAVID COPE plays Tom's young son who also can see dead people.
KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.; JENNIFER MORRISON plays the dead girl who's haunting both Tom and Jake.
ZACHARY DAVID COPE plays Tom's young son who also can see dead people.
KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.; ZACHARY DAVID COPE plays Tom's young son who also can see dead people.
KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.; KEVIN DUNN plays Tom's married, but wandering eye neighbor who takes a vested interest in his friend's obsession.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated horror thriller. Profanity is extreme with more than 20 "f" words being used, along with other profanities and colorful phrases. Violence is also extreme with several people being killed or committing suicide (with bloody results), and a girl is raped.

Those scenes, and others that feature spooky supernatural material and many "jump" scenes give the "Frightening/Tense Scenes" category an extreme rating as well (with the related music category getting the same rating). A sensuous sexual encounter that features some nudity, movement and sounds, along with some non-related dialogue also occurs.

Various scenes depict people drinking (with some reportedly being drunk), while one character comments that she and a friend just finished smoking a joint (not seen). Some cigarette smoking also occurs.

Due to all of that, as well as related, extreme bad attitudes and some family tension, you may want to take a closer look at the listed content should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: People drink beer at a neighborhood party. Later, we see a woman leaving the party who appears to be drunk. Lisa then initially tells Tom that she won't hypnotize him because he's drunk (which he denies).
Tom drinks a beer after coming out of hypnosis.
As they're walking toward some public event, Frank drinks from a bottle, and then offers some to Tom, who initially refuses, but then does take a swig.
People drink beer at a party.
After Tom shows up at her place, Lisa tells him that she and a woman who just left had just finished smoking a "big fatty" (joint).
Tom guzzles down a beer.
We see people drinking at Maggie's relatives' home and she even tells Tom on the phone that some of them are drunk.
Two teenagers invite a teenage girl to drink with them (as one says that he already has the spins). They then offer some liquor to the teenage girl (she declines) and one of them takes a swig.
A man throws his teenage son a bottle of liquor from which that son then drinks.

BLOOD/GORE: We see a sterilized safety pin being inserted through a closeup of Tom's flesh (but no blood).
Tom has a brief vision of blood splattering on the floor as well as of an entire fingernail bending backwards and breaking off.
In the bathroom, Tom sees blood swirling in a glass of water and then looks in the mirror to see blood from his mouth. We then see him pull a bloody tooth from his mouth (but all of this turns out to be just a vision).
A person's face is very bloody after shooting themselves.
We see some blood on a person's hands.
We see various images of the "alive" but dead teenage girl (where she looks dead, but not particularly gory).
On the TV we see scenes from what appears to be "Night of the Living Dead" where zombies eat human flesh (in grainy black and white footage).
Maggie suddenly stands up and hits her head hard enough to draw blood (we see a trickle of it).
We see many tiny, bluish veins appearing all over Tom's face.
We see a dead, and partially decomposed, nearly mummified body.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Obviously those responsible for a rape, the teenage girl's death and its coverup have both.
Frank looks at a woman's cleavage (as does the camera) at a party (despite his wife being there).
A babysitter essentially kidnaps Jake.
A neighbor repeatedly refers to Samantha as being a "retard."
Tom puts his obsession with his visions and the dead teenage girl ahead of Maggie, and he even declines to go to her grandmother's funeral so that he can continue searching for answers.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" may also be tense or suspenseful to some viewers.
We see Jake in the bathtub talking to someone we don't see. He then asks, "Does it hurt to be dead?"
We see (as does Tom) some near subliminally quick, disturbing scenes (distorted images and spooky music) as he comes out of hypnosis.
While having sex with Maggie, Tom has all sorts of brief, but odd visions that eventually freak him out.
In the bathroom, Tom sees blood swirling in a glass of water and then looks in the mirror to see blood from his mouth. We then see him pull a bloody tooth from his mouth (but all of this turns out to be just a vision).
Tom has another disturbing vision of what looks like someone's head rapidly shaking back and forth.
On the baby monitor, Jake's babysitter hears him stop breathing and then suddenly say "You scared me" and then talks about that babysitter to an unknown person. The babysitter then slowly makes her way up to his room to find him sitting up in bed, talking about this girl's missing sister.
She then takes Jake and leaves, something Tom has a vision of, and he and Maggie then race home and then follow his visions until they find the girl and their son.
A deep voice suddenly comes out of Jake's mouth.
Tom wakes up, walks around the house and then encounters Frank who states that he has to kill both him and Maggie and this then involves Frank's son. Tom then has to relive this scene all over again.
A mysterious man follows Maggie and Jake through a cemetery during the day.
Maggie walks down a darkened alley at night.
As Maggie swings the medicine cabinet mirror around, we see the dead teenage girl behind her, and then see this teenage girl again (although Maggie doesn't see her).
Maggie goes down into the basement and the dead teenage girl is there (but Maggie doesn't see her).
Some scenes from a mummy movie as well as what looks like "Night of the Living Dead" that play on the TV may spook some viewers. Jake then unplugs the TV to stop such images, but they keep playing.
Tom has another vision in his house where it's cold and the dead teenage girl is beckoning to him (after she walks toward him in an odd, jerky motion).
Tom has another vision of approaching a person in a darkened movie theater. Someone then grabs him and there's some brief, unidentifiable struggling.
The several minute sequence where the truth is finally revealed and which includes a rape, threats of violence and several deaths may be suspenseful and/or scary to some viewers.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Knife: Used to threaten, wound, or kill people. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Bitch" (said sister to sister), "Pissed off," "Screwing around," "Balls" (testicles), "Boner" (erection), "Jack off," "Nuts" (crazy), "Jerk," "Retard" and "Shut up."
Some kids may want to try to hypnotize each other (During a scene of that here, we see a sterilized safety pin being inserted through a closeup of Tom's flesh).
Tom has a tattoo on his back as well as his arm.

JUMP SCENES: As Tom sits back on their sofa, we suddenly see a dead teenager sitting next to him (this is a big jump scene).
Some quiet scenes that are then inter-cut with loud noises may startle some viewers.
Someone suddenly runs up some metal stairs next in Maggie in a darkened alley.
As Maggie swings the medicine cabinet mirror around, we see the dead teenage girl behind her.
The dead teenage girl suddenly appears in the basement.
Someone suddenly grabs Tom's arm.
The sight of a dead person may startle some viewers.
A person suddenly grabs a woman.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): An extreme amount of ominous, spooky and suspenseful music plays throughout the movie.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 23 "f" words (1 used sexually, another with "mother"), 14 "s" words, 13 hells, 4 asses (1 used with "hole"), 3 damns, 1 crap, 1 S.O.B. and 8 uses of "Oh my God," 7 of "G-damn," 4 of "Jesus Christ," 3 each of "Swear to God" and "Oh God," and 1 use each of "Christ," "Oh Jesus," "God" and "Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: Lisa asks Tom about whether his "beer-addled" sperm still work and then comments that he impregnated her sister, Maggie, again.
Maggie tells Tom that she didn't marry him because she thought he'd be famous, but because she liked the way "your ass looked in jeans."
As Tom, Maggie and Lisa walk to a neighborhood party and Lisa wonders about what kind of men might be there, a comment is made about a "boner" (erection).
Frank looks at a woman's cleavage (as does the camera) at a party. Later, his wife says (about him staring at other women), "Why don't you just lick them as they walk by?"
As Maggie rolls over in bed to snuggle up to Tom, we briefly see her bare breast. She takes her hand down to his crotch (under the covers) and starts to stimulate him. After they kiss, she then crawls on top of him and has sex sitting on top of him (where we see more views of her bare breasts -- she's wearing a robe-like outfit -- as well as their pleasured facial reactions and some movement. We also hear her heavy breathing and pleasured sounds). When he has several visions that make him stop, she tries to caress him, but he tells her that it's too weird. In response, she tells him that it's not weird, "but I can show you weird."
As they talk about Tom's vision of a dead teenager on their sofa, Maggie somewhat playfully asks, "Did you f*ck her?"
Frank's wife states that he's said that the average man has an erection two and a half times a day and then states that Frank "would stick it in a bowl of soup if it was still warm."
Lisa shows some cleavage and Maggie later does the same in her tank top.
We see Maggie's bare butt as she prepares to get into the bathtub.
A guy tells a teenage girl that she's "hot" and then kisses her and feels her clothed breast.

SMOKING: Frank's wife smokes a few times while a few miscellaneous characters also smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Tom's slow descent into madness begins to put a strain on his marriage to Maggie and they have frequent fights/arguing, including one scene where Jake tells them to be quiet.
Some parents are concerned about their child who's taken off in an ambulance, while a mother and her daughter are concerned about their daughter/sister who's missing.
Maggie learns that her grandmother has died.
We see a family at a funeral.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: That one can't always cover up a wrongdoing or crime and expect no one to find out.
Rape.
Tom's obsession of figuring out the truth.
Hypnosis.

VIOLENCE: Tom has a brief vision of blood splattering on the floor as well as that of an entire fingernail bending backwards and breaking off.
A babysitter grabs a tight hold around Jake's arm, causing him some pain.
At an outdoor party, some people playing football accidently knock over some bystanders and some brief pushing and shoving follows.
A person shoots themselves in the head (not completely seen, but a bloody face then is). A person then shoots themselves in what seems to be the gut.
Tom uses a chair to break a window of a neighbor's home.
Some horror violence occurs in some horror movies playing on the TV (people knocked over, zombies eating human flesh, etc...).
Maggie suddenly stands up and hits her head hard enough to draw blood.
Tom has another vision of approaching a person in a darkened movie theater. Someone then grabs him and there's some brief, unidentifiable struggling.
Tom tears up much of their house and yard looking for answers.
Maggie slams a door hard enough that the glass in it breaks.
In anger, Tom kicks a bucket that then strikes a window, breaking it.
A guy pushes a teenage girl to the floor during which he apparently rapes her (although that isn't graphically seen, we do see where she hits her head so hard a tooth comes flying out and a fingernail also breaks off backwards). They then struggle on the floor and he and another guy then suffocate her with large sheets of plastic until she's dead.
A mentally unstable man holds a gun and then fires a warning shot at another man. After that second man leaves, we hear another gunshot (presumably suicide).
After some threatening gestures by two men toward a third, that lone man then hits one of the others with a lamp, but the other guy then strikes the third with what looks like a fireplace poker, knocking him temporarily unconscious. They then prepare to execute him with a pillow muffled shot to the head.
A man grabs a woman and throws her to the floor. She then stabs that man in the foot with a knife and when another guy then tries to shoot her, yet another man shows up and shoots the two other "bad guys" dead.

Reviewed August 6, 1999 / September 10, 1999

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