8 out of 10
 

"Stir of Echos" is another in the current popular genre of movies where those beyond the grave are struggling to send a message to the living - presumably they’re having as much trouble with Bell Canada’s lousy service as the rest of us.

Playing his usual role as the poor white trash with deep issues and in even deeper-do-doos, even Bacon turns in a fine performance as a telephone engineer who becomes disturbed by psychic powers, such as visions of the future and of the dead, gained during a joke hypnosis session at a friend`s party. Regrettably, the filmmakers concluded that if something is good, two of it is great and his son also turns out to be a natural psychic as well. Whilst his sonis deeply disturbing, for instance, by talking directly to the camera as if you, the audience, are an unseen ghost, the presence of both of them leaves the plot a tad too crowded for both credibility and the sanity of his wife, Maggie, a thick, uncooperative slab of working class stupidity, played by Kathryn Erbe and leaving the ghost with more appearances than a condom at a Billy Clinton party. Likewise, a few scenes are so predictable that even Kevin Bacon replies to his wife’s question, "Why are you digging up the garden?" with "You know exactly what I`ll find."

Despite this limited damage, however, it represents a fine piece of creepy horror that develops into a riveting thriller, not just because of the special effects, but also because of the originality and quality of its telling. For instance, it shows step-by-step how hypnosis is performed and a couple of times plunges the theatre into pitch black silence with black screen - simple but deadly effective.