To ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, Hollywood says, "Deliver us money!"
And they listen. As long as moviegoers cling firmly to their armrests and significant others, studio executives will continue to light their Cuban cigars with flaming Benjamins. The latest attempt to cash in on paranormal mania is "Stir of Echoes," from upstart Artisan Entertainment, a studio that knows something ("The Blair Witch Project") about horror, not to mention marketing.
But "Stir of Echoes" more closely resembles last month's out-of-nowhere phenomenon, "The Sixth Sense." And while clearly the less accomplished and original of the two, "Stir" manages to head down its own dark, otherworldly path.
The most prominent similarity is a tyke with sensory overload. Six-year-old Jake Witzky, played by newcomer Zachary David Cope, chats in the film's opening scene with what appears to be an imaginary friend. At least that's what his parents and friends think -- until he asks his imaginary friend what it feels like to be dead.
But Jake doesn't play a prominent role; the film focuses on his father, Tom (Kevin Bacon), a telephone lineman. Bacon's past successes have come playing blue-collar guys, and he returns to his niche here: Tom has lived his entire life within a six-block radius in a Chicago neighborhood. But he has become disillusioned with his mundane life.
Enter Tom's annoying sister-in-law, Lisa (Illeana Douglas). Lisa, a low-rent mystic, convinces skeptical Tom to let her hypnotize him at a party. "What's the worst that can happen?" he asks.
Bad question. And from here on, writer-director David Koepp invades Tom's psyche -- and the viewer's. The hypnosis leaves Tom with the same abilities as his son: He can see, hear and talk to the dead. Granted, he isn't very good at it, but experience can help in such matters.
Koepp spins a mystery story around Tom's visions, which are centered on a murdered teenage girl. Meanwhile, his wife (Kathryn Erbe of HBO's "Oz") thinks he's going insane. She tries to remain supportive as her husband exercises his unstoppable compulsion to dig for the girl's body around their house, but becomes increasingly desperate.
Adapted from Richard Matheson's 1958 novel, "Stir of Echoes" maintains a good deal of suspense. Koepp's writing and direction are both solid, building nicely on the strengths of his previous directorial effort, "The Trigger Effect." Instead of employing the typical guerrilla scare tactics of most horror films, he builds tension and atmosphere creatively. Koepp eerily invades Tom's unstable mind through tight close-ups and distorted point-of-view shots.
Yet the film isn't as scary as it could have been, perhaps because the characters are not well developed. The story relies too heavily on Tom and ignores his wife and son, cushioning its potential emotional impact. While this is a horror movie and not a muted drama with Oscar aspirations, a thriller so rooted in psychology could benefit from more intense character analysis.
Still, "Stir of Echoes" provides a good evening's ghostly entertainment. And that should be enough to continue Hollywood's march to the bank on the bones of the dead.
Grade: B
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