Shaken and Stirred

We’re fans of Illeana Douglas, although mainly for one movie and her podcast. Because she is in Stir of Echoes (1999), and because Ms. Spenser likes ghost stories (and it’s rolling into Spooktober), we queued it up.

It stars Kevin Bacon as the father of a little boy who has an imaginary friend - a ghost. Bacon is a blue-collar guy married to Kathryn Erne. They have moved into an old house in a working class Chicago neighborhood near the college. It’s kind of a fratty atmosphere - they put the boy to bed and take the baby monitor across the street where there’s a semi-rowdy house party going on.

Erbe’s sister, Illeana Douglas is there, and Bacon is kind of getting into it with her, because she’s a kind of new agey, almost-certified hypnotherapist. He goads her into hypnotizing him, and he goes right under. He has a horrific encounter with the ghost of a young girl while under, although his friends just see him talk about childhood memories and get a pin pushed through his hand.

After this event, he starts seeing more visions - he sees one of his own teeth fall out, for instance - and he learns that Douglas gave him a post-hypnotic suggestion to “be more open”. Turns out, he’s open to the spirit world, like his son. When Erbe is walking the son, he homes in on a funeral and a black policeman, Officer Exposition, explains that the son has the sight, and suggests that Bacon drop in on their support group. Note that this is a literal Magic Negro, but this actually comes to pretty much nothing, since Bacon is doing the strong, silent man thing and won’t admit there’s anything going on.

So of course, he gets more and more unhinged, even as he tries to act normal, socializing with the bonehead neighbors, going to a football game, etc. Eventually, he begins digging up the backyard and smashing the walls of the house while his wife and son are away.

The solution to the mystery is rather banal and tawdry, and realistic. I’ll let you discover the details if you watch it. It’s worth it - a solid, if not groundbreaking ghost story (it came out the same year as Sixth Sense). Bacon’s refusal to talk about what’s going on is kind of annoying, but it isn’t one of those movies that would be over in 10 minutes if someone just communicated with anyone else. Also, Douglas’s slightly airheaded sister-in-law is quite endearing. There’s a silly scene where Bacon bursts in on her getting high with a girlfriend that gives her a mysterious backstory. I wonder if she’s in the sequel.