Best known as the screenwriter of hits like 1993’s Jurassic Park and 2002’s Spider-Man, David Koepp moved to the director’s chair with 1996’s Trigger Effect. Adapted from a Richard Matheson novel, 1999’s Stir of Echoes became Koepp’s second effort in this capacity.

Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon> works as a telephone cable stripper. Married to Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and with young son Jake (Zachary David Cope), he seems content with his life, but he just never planned on being so "ordinary”.

That changes when his Maggie's sister Lia (Illeana Douglas) hypnotizes him at a little party. Afterwards he begins to see odd visions, and these consume him.

Unmentioned: Jake sees dead people too, a factor that led Stir to seem uncomfortably similar to 1999’s Sixth Sense. Given that Stir came from a 40-year-old novel and also hit screens barely a month after Sixth Sense, it becomes obvious Koepp’s film had nothing to do with M. Night Shyamalan’s, but I suspect audiences viewed it as a “me too” effort given the massive success of the latter.

While Stir lacked the freshness of Sense, it nonetheless delivered a pretty good “ghost story” as well. The Sixth Sense had better atmosphere and a great ending.

Stir seems faster paced but it lacks the same gut punch finale. Nonetheless, this becomes a spooky, well-crafted horror flick.

The movie feels consistently creepy and uses that vibe to great effect. Though not gory, the flashes of violence feel like enough. The creepy sound effects actually work as well, and not just noise.

The problem is that it only works during the first viewing, whereasThe Sixth Sense succeeds on additional screenings. Since we never know what Tom really sees, the film leaves much to the imagination, which usually becomes scarier than whatever could be shown on screen.

Once we know, though, the atmosphere disappears on repeat viewings. While Sense works the same way, Shyamalan knew how to handle the mood.

Koepp doesn't really have that knack. Still, the first viewing works quite well.

However, the ending though becomes quite a big letdown. After all these tantalizing ghost scenes and the mystery unfolds by bits and pieces, we get a showdown that does not justify the means of getting there.

You also have that tiring old trick of someone coming in just the nick of time. This technique causes eye-rolling at the wrong time.

Still, even with these flaws, Stir becomes a pretty effective thriller. It doesn’t reinvent the genre but it works most of the time.

Stir of Echoes appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. While not exactly a visual showcase, this Dolby Vision presentation appeared to represent the source well.

Sharpness usually worked fine. Some darker interiors – of which we found many – occasionally felt a little soft, but the majority of the film brought solid delineation.

I witnessed no issues with jagged edges or moiré effects, and the movie lacked edge haloes. Grain felt natural and I witnessed no print flaws.

The film’s palette mixed heavy blue and orange tones, with occasional loud splashes of red. These appeared appropriate within design choices and got a boost from HDR.

Blacks seemed dark and deep, while low-light shots offered appealing clarity within the semi-murky cinematography. Whites and contrast enjoyed a jolt from HDR. No one will use this intentionally dense image as a demo disc but the picture looked about as good as I could hope.

Downcoverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos worked pretty well, with an appropriately spooky soundscape. Much of the movie concentrated on ambience, albeit intense ambience.

The track used this environmental information in a satisfying manner, and it kicked to life nicely with louder “scare moments” as well. These showed appealing localization and combined to deliver a worthwhile sonic experience.

Audio quality also seemed solid. Music demonstrated good range and clarity.

Dialogue came across as concise and natural, while effects provided accurate and full elements. While it lacked a real “dazzle factor”, the soundtrack suited the story.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2006? The Atmos mix felt a bit broader and more active than the BD’s DTS-HD HR 6.1 track.

The UHD’s Dolby Vision presentation offered the more obvious step up, as it offered clearly superior delineation, colors and blacks. Given that the 2006 BD barely surpassed DVD quality, the 4K easily bettered it.

The 4K mixes old and new extras. Originally on the circa 2000 DVD, we find an audio commentary from writer/director David Koepp.

He provides a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, inspirations and influences, editing and cinematography, music and audio, effects and connected domains.

Expect a lively, engaging and honest chat from Koepp. He moves along the track at a good pace and reveals a lot about the movie – including mistakes and elements he doesn’t much like. This becomes a well above-average commentary.

Sight of Spirits runs 10 minutes, 36 seconds. It delivers notes from field parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz and novelist Richard Matheson.

“Sight” examines psychic domains connected to the movie. I don’t believe any of this stuff, but the featurette offers a good overview of the concepts.

Deleted Scenes fill a total of four minutes, 53 seconds. The first shows more of Tom’s developing psychic powers, while the second extends an existing sequence.

The third mostly acts as a glimpse behind the scenes to hear Koepp direct young actors, while the final one develops Tom’s deepening obsession. All seem interesting enough but not great.

From here we go to the disc’s “Archival Bonus Content”, some of which stems from a 2004 Special Edition DVD and some from a 2021 non-US Blu-ray. Flipping the Switch spans 17 minutes, 28 seconds and offers info from Koepp.

“Switch” examines the movie’s development, the source novel and its adaptation, the budget, sets and locations, some scene specifics and the impact Sixth Sense on the movie’s release. Inevitably, some of this repeats from Koepp’s terrific commentary, but he brings enough new info to make this an engaging chat.

Maggie’s Memories goes for 11 minutes, 14 seconds. It involves actor Kathryn Erbe.

She relates how she got her part, thoughts about her character and her performance, working with Koepp and her co-stars, and various experiences. Erbe delivers an informative view of her time on the film.

Next comes Opening the Door. During this 15-minute, 59-second reel, we hear from production designer Nelson Coates.

Unsurprisingly, Coates tells us of his wotk on sets and locations. He provides a solid take on these domains.

Behind the Echoes occupies 21 minutes, three seconds. It brings notes from Koepp, Erbe, producer Gavin Pallone, exexcutive producer Michele Weisler, and actors Kevin Bacon, Liza Weil, Illeana Douglas, and Zachary David Cope.

“Behind” looks at the source and its adaptation, cast and performances, the work of the producers, story and characters, and working with Koepp. Despite some fluff and some repetition, this still becomes a decent reel.

After this we find The Mind’s Eye. In this 10-minute, 22-second featurette, we find notes from Douglas, hypnotherapist Dr. Marc Schoen, and novelist Richard Matheson.

This show looks at hypnosis and its use in the film. Expect another reasonably informative piece.

Special Effects lasts three minutes, 52 seconds. It features Koepp, Coates, visual effects supervisor Casey Cannon, Weisler,

As anticipated, various effects work comes to the fore here. We get a short but useful reel.

From here we shift to Production Design. This one fills three minutes, 52 seconds with statements from Coates, Weisler, and Bacon.

Like one assumes, the featurette discusses sets and locations. While fine on its own, it feels fairly redundant after Coates’ longer chat from elsewhere on the disc.

A compilation of Interviews with Cast and Crew totals eight minutes, 18 seconds. It includes Koepp, Bacon, Erbe, Pallone, and Weisler.

These clips look at cast and performances, story and characters. These mostly feel like promo fluff.

Via Behind the Scenes, we locate a five-minute, 53-second collection of “fly on the wall” shots from the production. Though brief, this becomes a fun reel.

Some Scene Comparisons span a total of 11 minutes, 32 seconds and allow us to see both on-the-set elements and final movie shots. This follows in the footsteps of “Behind the Scenes” but the ability to contrast rough footage with the end product adds an interesting twist.

Three Screen Tests take up six minutes, 46 seconds. Though the title implies auditions, instead we see the already-cast actors as they run through various “looks” for the characters. It becomes a decent set of shots.

“Promotional Material” includes the movie’s trailer, four TV spots and two Original Promos. The first goes for four minutes, 48 seconds and features Koepp, Bacon, Douglas, Erbe, and Weil, while “Short Promo” lasts two minutes, 21 seconds and includes Koepp, Bacon, Erbe and Douglas.

The longer “Promo” lives up – or down – to its title and just offers a glorified trailer. “Short” gives us the same segment but edited in half. Both are good for completists but not interesting on their own.

“Archival Bonus Content” ends with a music video for “Breathe” from Moist. The song brings a lackluster mix of Pink Floyd and late 90s rock styles and the video itself seems forgettable. The clip’s poor picture quality doesn’t help.

With that, we finally go to the 4K’s new materials. Visions of the Past goes for 17 minutes, 39 seconds and gives us info from Koepp.

The filmmaker gets into how he discovered the source novel and its adaptation, cast and performances, what he learned as a director from the shoot, scare moments and effects, editing, the movie’s release, reception and legacy. Inevitably we get some repetition from other places, but “Past” allows Koepp to view the movie from the perspective of 25 years later.

Finally, Establishing Shot occupies eight minutes, 22 seconds. It delivers remarks from Koepp, director of photography Fred Murphy and 4K colorist Kostas Theodosiou.

“Shot” covers the flick’s cinematography and the Koepp/Murphy collaboration as well as the new 4K scan. We find some good info here.

The set also includes a Blu-ray copy of the movie. Note that this reproduces the old 2006 BD and doesn’t bring the updated presentation of the movie.

All of this comes housed in a snazzy steelbook case wrapped in an equally snazzy lenticular slipcase. As of December 2024, the 4K does not appear available in a non-steelbook format.

Stir of Echoes manages to become creepy and offers better chills than some other more heavily hyped ghost stories. While it borrows from other genre efforts, it mixes all the elements nicely. The 4K UHD brings good picture audio and a long roster of bonus materials. I like the movie and the 4K brings it home well.

To rate this film visit Blu-ray review of STIR OF ECHOES