STIR OF ECHOES

Directed by David Koepp. Starring Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas

A broadly Hitchcock-like frightener with allusions to ghosts and brutal slayings, Stir Of Echoes positively plays havoc with the heart-rate, and, if not exactly awash with originality, it's extremely satisfying in its own right.

Kevin Bacon plays a Joe Bloggsish, inherently uninteresting phone-company engineer, married with a young son, but somewhat regretful at a life that hasn't seemed to consist of very much. Then, dripping with contemptous scepticism, he challenges his hippyish sister-in-law to hypnotise him at a party, and finds the results more far-reaching and disturbing than he'd dared to bargain for.

As events proceed to spin out of control, director Koepp cranks up the nameless-dread factor to uncomfortable proportions, while Bacon and his wife (Erbe) avoid excessive

histrionics and remain resolutely believable, ordinary characters throughout.

Nifty camera trickery and nightmarish dream sequences suck you in still further, and if the film's resolution isn't quite as neat as it could have been, it still carries a spooky resonance that sends you out into the daylight with one eye on your own shadow. Do not bring the kids.