Stir of Echoes is The Sixth Sense's neglected little brother, but sometimes the little brother has just as big of punch. While there isn't a surprising twist ending (in fact, it is reasonably predictable), Stir of Echoes uses some interesting direction and a creepy storyline to make one scary movie.

Basically, a guy (Bacon) gets hypnotized and when he wakes up, he begins to have visions of a girl. Of course, it is pretty obvious to the audience that she was murdered, and he is being haunted by her ghost. His son talks to her, also.

One of the scariest moments I have ever seen is in this movie, where she suddenly appears out of nowhere. I almost screamed, my brother did so, and my mom laughed because she was so frightened. My dad said it did not frighten him, but the chair was a little moist after he left. In fact, my head is tingling right now because I am thinking of the vision of this girl. In the movie, she moves much in the way that the ghosts in The House on Haunted Hill move, strangely and otherworldy.

After that moment, where the girl appears, the tension is high, because you know that at any second, she could appear. Of course, the camera moves in such a way that when the characters turn, so does it, which is always good for suspense.

The only downside is that the movie does taper off a little at the end. It is not that bad of an ending but at the same time is not a very supernatural ending. The last little part is more about the murderers (which are fairly easy to predict) than the ghost girl. I would have liked to see a little more of the boy in the ending, also, since he is a key character up until that point (how much you want to be that he has Haley Joel Osmet posters on his walls and uses them as dartboards?).

Stir of Echoes is a surprisingly exciting and effectively scary movie. The ending could be a little better, but this one is sure to give you nightmares.

Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.