Most good horror films have one good shock that stands out or makes an audience jump. On the other hand, watching Stir of Echoes and David Koepp’s extraordinarily accomplished shocks makes The Sixth Sense‘s success seem that little bit less, as a film that has been carried more by the buzz surrounding its surprise ending than anything else. However, Stir of Echoes opts for a far more routine murder mystery plot than The Sixth Sense and its way-out surprise ending. There are undeniable similarities between The Sixth Sense and Stir of Echoes – they are both films about people able to see ghosts, they both feature a spookily prescient child and the murder of a girl that needs avenging. When Stir of Echoes came out, many were quick to compare it to The Sixth Sense (1999), which had been released in the US only a month earlier. Koepp then made an impressive debut as writer and director of the excellent downfall of civilized order drama The Trigger Effect (1996) and continued to move from strength to even greater strength with this ghost story. David Koepp emerged in the 1990s with an impressive list of high-calibre screenwriting credits that include the likes of Jurassic Park (1993), Carlito’s Way (1993), The Paper (1994), The Shadow (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996), Spider-Man (2002), War of the Worlds (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014).

Stir of echoes sleep