Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming (2007) Review

"Nothing is random anymore."

-Jake Witzky

After being injured in Iraq, National Guardsman Ted Cogan (Rob Lowe) returns to his home in Chicago, but he starts having visions that don't seem to be PTSD.  As a few of his visions start coming true, Ted is compelled to investigate a recent violent murder, but he discovers something more awful that he can imagine.

What Works:

Rob Lowe does a fine job as the protagonist of the film.  He's nowhere near as good as Kevin Bacon, but he's solid, likable (by far the most likable character in the movie), and you do want him to succeed.

There are a few creepy effects here and there with the best one being a scene where Ted is trapped in an elevator that is extremely hot.  We get to see the elevator buttons melting and it looks pretty cool.

The 3rd act actually takes the movie in an unexpected direction when we learn the culprits behind the brutal murder of Farzan (Vik Sahay) are actually Ted's son, Max (Ben Lewis) and his friends.  These characters were set up as racist and unlikable earlier in the film, but I was pretty surprised to see that pay off like this.  This twist was pretty much an inverse of the original Stir of Echoes and I actually really enjoyed it.  It was interesting to watch Ted deal with this news and it gave the movie some interesting conflict.  It doesn't quite stick the landing, but at least we got a few really interesting scenes.

What Sucks:

Most of this movie is generic psychological thriller stuff.  Ted sees stuff that isn't actually there and what we though really wasn't actually happening.  It's all stuff we've seen before and it doesn't do anything new or interesting until the 3rd act.  It's not bad, it's just pretty bland.

Ted is the only likable character in the move.  Everyone else pretty much sucks.  Max is an obnoxious teenager, so I actually was happy that he turned out to be the murderer.  I knew there was a good reason I didn't like him, but that does make it harder for us to empathize with Ted's conflict.  The audience wants him to turn Max in because he's such an unlikable character.  It's hard for us to see Max as someone we should care about which lessens the impact of the finale.

Ted's wife, Molly (Marnie McPhail), is also pretty unlikable.  She is really unsympathetic and unhelpful to Ted's plight.  He's your husband and he just got back from a traumatic injury he received in a war zone, you should probably a little bit sympathetic!  When she dies in the end of the movie, I didn't care at all and was actually glad she was gone, which, again, lessens the impact of the film.

There are a few CGI effects that look absolutely terrible and the opening sequence is filmed and edited in a very choppy manner.  It was almost nauseating to watch at points.

Finally, the final scene doesn't quite stick the landing.  Molly is dead and Ted turns in Max and sends his son to jail.  This is exactly what I wanted to have happen, but the final scene is Ted in some sort of mental hospital and he talks to the ghost of Molly.  This scene doesn't really work as we don't really get an update on how Ted is doing and Molly was so unlikable that we don't care that she is back.  The whole ending could have been solid, but it ends up just being meh.

Verdict:

I was expecting a lot worse than what we got for a TV-movie sequel to a solid horror film.  Rob Lowe does a good job, there is a neat effect or two, and the 3rd act is unexpected and pretty entertaining, but most of the movie is just so generic, the other characters are all unlikable, the CGI looks bad, some of the filmmaking techniques are nauseating, and the final scene is a bit of a letdown.  Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming isn't so much a bad movie, but it's not good either.

 5/10: Meh