Stir of Echoes
| Stir of Echoes | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | David Koepp |
| Produced by | Judy Hofflund Gavin Polone |
| Screenplay by | David Koepp |
| Based on |
A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson |
| Starring | |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Fred Murphy |
| Edited by | Jill Savitt |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $21.1 million |
Stir of Echoes is a 1999 American supernatural horror-thriller released in the United States on September 10, 1999, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by David Koepp. The film is loosely based on the novel A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson.
Tom Witzky is a phone lineman living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie and his son Jake, who possesses the ability to commune with the dead. At a party one evening, Tom challenges Maggie's sister Lisa, a believer in paranormal activity, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded". Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac, a 17-year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.
While Tom and Maggie attend a high school football game, Jake is overheard by his babysitter, Debbie Kozac, as he speaks with Samantha. Debbie gets upset and snatches Jake, running off with him in the night. Meanwhile, Tom senses Jake is in danger and rushes home but finds him gone. Tom then sees strange flashes of red light that eventually leads him to the 'L' station where Debbie is speaking with her mother about Jake. When Tom and Maggie confront her, Debbie angrily questions them about her sister Samantha, explaining that she had an intellectual disability: having the mental capacity of an 8-year-old and thus a child's tendency to trust strangers. Tom denies knowing her to Debbie but admits to Maggie that she is the girl in his visions.
Tom becomes obsessed with Samantha and begins probing members of the community about her disappearance. This attracts the attention of his landlord Harry Damon, Tom's friend, Frank McCarthy and their respective sons Kurt Damon and Adam McCarthy, who all dismiss Samantha as a runaway teen. During an afternoon walk, Jake and Maggie encounter a funeral where Chicago policemen are saluting in a ceremony; here a policeman named Neil immediately recognizes Jake's unique talent and invites Tom to a private gathering of like-minded people to learn more about what is happening to his son. Maggie withholds her conversation with Neil from Tom and goes to the meeting herself, and Neil tells her the spirit that contacted Tom has asked for something and will grow upset if it does not get done. As predicted, Samantha begins plaguing Tom, eventually leading to his insomnia. He goes back to Lisa and demands she undo what she did, but when she hypnotizes him, Samantha tells him to dig. Tom complies and digs holes in the backyard and eventually tears up the house in a desperate attempt to appease Samantha.
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