Stir of Echoes
Written and Directed by David Koepp
Starring Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Kevin Dunn
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Available on 4K, Blu-ray, and digital December 10 from Lionsgate

by Hunter Bush, Podcast Director

Synopsis:

Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a blue-collar worker, a family man, the most ordinary guy in the world...who is about to be plunged into a shattering encounter with another world. And it doesn't matter that Tom doesn't believe in the supernatural. Because something supernatural has started to believe in Tom. After he is hypnotized at a neighborhood party, Tom changes. He sees things he can't explain and hears voices he can't ignore. As the horrific visions intensify, Tom realizes they are pieces of a puzzle, echoes of a crime calling out to be solved. But when his other-worldly nightmares begin coming true, Tom wants out. He desperately tries to rid himself of his eerie, unwanted powers - only to be seized by an irresistible compulsion to dig deeper and deeper into the mystery that is consuming his life. When at last he unearths the truth, it will draw him into the long-buried secret of a ghastly crime, a vengeful spirit...and the lethal price of laying that spirit to rest.

What Features Make it Special:

Audio Commentary with Director David Koepp
Visions of the Past: Re-visiting Stir of Echoes (2024 NEW featurette)
Establishing Shot with Fred Murphy (2024 NEW featurette)
Flipping the Switch: Directing Stir of Echoes
Maggie's Memories: Inside Stir of Echoes
Opening the Door: Designing Stir of Echoes
Making of Stir of Echoes
Sight of Spirits: Channeling the Paranormal
Behind the Echoes
The Mind's Eye: Beneath the Trance
Special Effects
Production Design
Interviews with Cast and Crew
Behind the Scenes
Scene Comparisons
Screen Tests
Deleted Scenes
Promotional Materials
Breathe Original Music Video
Theatrical Trailer

Why You Need to Add it to Your Media Library:

Beyond its solid pedigree–based on a novel by genre legend Richard Matheson, with a stacked cast of talented character actors–Stir of Echoes is an intimate portrait of growing madness, the dark heart of even the most serene neighborhood. From an effects standpoint, it relies mostly on the practical, with camera tricks and clever edits building an ever-present tension. It's not flashy, but it's a well-built thriller with some real chills and the exact right amount of supernaturalness.

Confoundingly, even up into the last few years, it was rarely streamable until around the spooky season, making physical media a must. It's for that reason that I've held on to my original DVD–with its silly plastic slipcover with black...ectoplasm (?) on it–for so long; I love introducing folks to this flick! Despite being reasonably well-received when it premiered, Stir of Echoes remains somewhat of an underseen prize. The problem with Stir of Echoes is that it's a slow-build supernatural thriller that came out in 1999, but it isn't The Sixth Sense, so nobody really noticed.

This version is ostensibly the best-looking one yet! In the Establishing Shot special feature, cinematographer Fred Murphy and 4K colorist Kostas Theodosiou detail the processes by which the 4K was constructed and fine-tuned, and it's very interesting if you're into the nitty-gritty of how these sorts of projects are accomplished. While both Murphy and Theodosiou are adamant about maintaining the spirit of the film, they're now able to fine-tune aspects that they weren't able to in the past; brightening one area of a scene, better balancing the lighting in between a shot and its reverse; things like that. The small tweaks the filmmakers wish they had the time and money for from the start. So make space on your shelf for this one, and watch it any time you like. Ghosts don't care what time of year it is so why should you?