In late summer of 1999, a uniquely talented writer-director delivered a brilliant psychological thriller in which a young boy can see dead people. When the living and the dead are in the same room, it becomes so cold you can see characters’ breath. A ghost in the movie actually delivers proof of a murder.
That movie was called “Stir of Echoes.” Set and filmed in Chicago, with additional scenes shot in Joliet.
In one of the most unfortunately timed releases in movie history, this chilling supernatural thriller from writer-director David Koepp (writer of “Jurassic Park,” “Mission: Impossible” and the 2002 “Spider-Man”) arrived in theaters a little more than a month after “The Sixth Sense” came out. By that time, M. Night Shyamalan’s classic had already become a sensational success.
Even though “Stir of Echoes” was based on a 1958 novel by Richard Matheson, and Koepp once told Entertainment Weekly that after he read the script for “The Sixth Sense,” he unsuccessfully lobbied the studio for an April 1999 release, it felt like “Echoes” was, well, an echo of the former film. Not that it was a bomb; the movie nearly doubled its $12 million budget with a box office tally of $23 million. It just didn’t get the reception it deserved.
I wouldn’t call “Stir of Echoes” a better movie than “The Sixth Sense,” but I do feel it’s more terrifying, and a recent rewatch confirmed that for me. On multiple occasions, even though I knew what was coming, I could feel the hairs rise on my arms and my heart skipping.
“Stir of Echoes” — available for free streaming (with ads) on Tubi, The Roku Channel and Freevee — is screening Wednesday and Thursday at the Music Box Theatre during its 25th anniversary year. A few things to look for if you’re revisiting the film, or experiencing it for the first time:
* Kevin Bacon does a heavy but authentic working-class Chicago accent as telephone lineman Tom Witzky, who lives in Logan Square with his wife Maggie (the terrific Kathryn Erbe), who is a nurse, and their 5-year-old son Jake (Zachary Cope). As opposed to “The Sixth Sense,” where the reveal about Cole’s ability to see dead people doesn’t happen until 50 minutes in, we’re made aware of Jake’s gift/curse during the opening credits, when he seems to be talking to no one and says, “Can I ask you a question? An important question. … Does it hurt to be dead?”
* The Witzkys only recently have moved into the area, but they’re welcomed with open arms by the neighbors, including Kevin Dunn’s Frank McCarthy, who is fond of saying, “This is a decent neighborhood” at one of the frequent get-togethers on the block. Tom notes that it’s not as if he’s arrived here from a foreign land, as he’s from the Bridgeport-Back of the Yards neighborhoods. (The great Kevin Dunn, brother of Nora Dunn, is another Chicago connection in the film.)
* We get the sense Tom was a bit of a rebel spirit before he settled down with Maggie. He’s still toying around with joining a band, and he has a number of tattoos, which wasn’t a common thing in 1999, including a large coiled snake between his shoulder blades.
* After Maggie’s sister Lisa (Illeana Douglas) hypnotizes Tom and “opens” his mind, the storyline becomes primarily about Tom’s sudden flashes of seeing certain events experienced by a girl named Samantha Kozac who went missing six months ago and is now popping up in Tom’s visions and scaring the bleep out of him (and us). Samantha is played by Arlington Heights’ Jennifer Morrison, who is probably best known for her roles on “House” and “Once Upon a Time” and recently starred in Margaret Atwood’s “The Penelopiad” at the Goodman.
* With an R rating, “Stir of Echoes” is a little more hardcore in its depiction of violence and supernatural events than “The Sixth Sense.” Scenes involving a tooth and a fingernail will dare you to keep looking at the screen. There’s also a moment when we see a safety pin piercing Tom’s hand in closeup, and that was no special effect. This is quite likely the only movie in history with credits that include “Hand Piercer” (Karen Kay) and “Hand Piercee” (Tom Creedon).
* Director Koepp and cinematographer Fred Murphy deliver consistently unsettling visuals, from the dream/hallucination sequences to the lighting that gives each of the key houses on West George Street a unique look. (The opening shot of the Witzky house with the orange porch light instantly sets the tone. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the famous shot from “The Exorcist.”) On the two occasions when Lisa hypnotizes Tom, we’re plunged into a surreal version of the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet. A funeral scene takes us to the Oak Woods Cemetery on the South Side.
* This is a film that gets the details right. Here’s how Koepp’s script describes the setting: “A huge old Polish church towers over their Chicago neighborhood, and the Witzkys’ home. It’s not the suburbs, but it’s not quite downtown either. There’s a bar on the corner (Bernie’s Tap), and barely a room for a raised voice between the houses. The house next to the church is our house. Wood frame, two stories with an attic. The hot engine of a Trans-Am fires up across the street …”
Perfect.
