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The Echo Blu-ray Review |
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The Echo Blu-ray
Image Entertainment | 2008 | 96 mins | Not rated | Nov 10, 2009
The Echo Blu-ray ReviewHmm, this sounds familiar.Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, October 28, 2009 What do The Ring, The Grudge, and now The Echo have in common? Well, yes, all three have titles with a definite article followed by a vaguely creepy noun, but besides that, they share the same executive producers and each is a remake of an atmospheric Asian horror film. All three deal with unsettling supernatural children, black-haired female ghosts, and vestigial hauntings caused by some mysterious familial trauma. Perhaps, then, the question should be: what sets The Echo apart from the glut of Asian horror retreads that flooded the market after the success of The Ring and The Grudge? The answer? Not much. The Echo reverberates with the same stale tropes and tired conventions that have clogged up the creativity of the U.S. horror scene ever since producers first got wise to the fact that Asian filmmakers were dreaming up some scary stuff that was ripe for remaking. In spite of all the visual and narrative clichés, though, I found myself enjoying long stretches of The Echo. Maybe it was the spooky sound design, the moody cinematography, or just that today's bleak drizzle made ideal horror-watching weather, but I was drawn in by the film's slow and steady build-up.
The Echo is based on Filipino filmmaker Yam Laranas' Sigaw—which means, literally, Shout—and the director has been brought stateside to retell his tale for American audiences. Jesse Bradford (Flags of Our Fathers) plays Bobby Walker, an ex-con who has done his time—for involuntary manslaughter—and has just been released. Bobby's mother died under strange circumstances while he was in the clink, and when he takes up residence in her run-down New York City apartment, he finds evidence that she may have been losing her grip on reality. There are wadded tissues filled with ripped-off fingernails jammed inside the piano, strange bloodstains on her pillowcase, and tins of rotting, half-eaten food in the bedroom closet. Soon enough, Bobby is questioning his own sanity, as he begins hearing muttered utterances, strange skittering noises, and a deep, metallic scraping sound that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. The oppressive atmosphere isn't exactly helped by the creepiness of the building's other tenants, including a mumbling old babushka and the cop next door (Kevin Durand) who can be heard beating his wife and young daughter nightly. Despite attempts at normalcy—Bobby gets a job as a mechanic and tries to reconnect with his former sweetheart Alyssa (Amelia Warner)—the sounds, supernatural and domestically abusive, only get worse. Bobby confronts the cop about the violence, but in the process he unknowingly involves himself in a cyclical curse. Surprisingly for a straight-to-video horror film, the performances here are fairly solid. The film depends on Jesse Bradford being able to pull off progressive paranoia, and he does just that, breaking down convincingly in a bewildered, incredulous mess. His performance here has even allowed me to forgive him for Bring It On. The subplot regarding his reinstitution into society and the whole ex-girlfriend angle aren't exactly original, but I felt some honest-to- goodness sympathy for his character, who is well meaning and eager to turn his life around. Amelia Warner is rather unmemorable as Bobby's former flame, but she's more than adequate in her small tangential role. And Kevin Durand, man is that guy maniacal. If you caught him as the mercenary Keamy in season four of Lost, then you'll have a good idea of what to expect from him here, a hulking, taut, muscle-knot of a cop who seethes with pent-up anger. The film has echoes, if you'll pardon the pun, of two Polanski films—Rosemary's Baby and The Tenant—not only in the apartment building setting but also in the slow unraveling of both Bobby's sanity and the film's core mystery. While not paced quite as sluggishly as, say, Dark Water, The Echo certainly takes its time, brooding over eerie details and allowing an atmosphere of pervasive dread to take precedence over gory violence and cheap scares. There are several "jump" moments, but they do feel organic to the story and not simply manufactured to make asses leave seats, so to speak. Unearned scares are a cinematic pet peeve of mine, and in this regard, The Echo never tested the limits of my patience. I have this recurring nightmare about someone hovering over my bed, staring at me, so when it happens in the film, needless to say, I was certifiably spooked. Many scenes creak with a genuine unease, and there's a great sense of tension in our awareness that something terrifying could happen at any second. That said, the film belabors itself with stale Asian horror influences. A silent little girl plinks atonally at a toy piano, creeping out, by this point, no one. Then there's the requisite longhaired female ghost, who shows up now and then to basically say boo. And finally, when all the strings of the plot have been pulled and the mystery is laid bare, the ultimate explanation for the hauntings is neither as frightening nor as emotionally satisfying as I'd hoped. But then again, this is a fault in a good many ghost movies. While The Echo isn't a failure by any means—I enjoyed most of the film—some of the visual and narrative ideas have been bounced so frequently between the walls of other films that by the time they arrive here, they're diminished and not nearly as powerful as they were in the first wave of Asian horror remakes. Video  For a lower-budgeted, straight-to-video horror release, I was surprised by the clarity and presence of The Echo's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. It's not exactly in the top ranks of Blu-ray presentations, but it easily beats out similar genre offerings. Aside from a few soft scenes, the image is sharp throughout, showing plenty of detail in close-ups and a nicely resolved look during longer shots. Contrast is excellent, especially in outdoor scenes—which have a very dimension appearance —and black levels retain shadow detail while still remaining dark enough not to look washed out or grayish. As you'll notice from the screenshots, most of the indoor scenes have a distinct yellow cast, and while this sometimes overwhelms the color palette, the choice works within the context of the film. Otherwise, colors are deep and stable and skin tones look natural. The print itself is very clean, and the thin layer of grain is only readily discernable in some of the darkest shots. Audio  The Echo's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track starts with some seriously creepy sound design and rarely relents. The audio-only credit sequence features Bobby's mom reacting to the supernatural noises around her, which creak, scrape, and skitter ominously. There's one instance where ghostly footsteps run a full circle around the soundfield. The cross-channel movements throughout are very convincing, and if you're like me, you'll feel oppressively surrounded. But, you know, in a good way. Not surprisingly then, there's also a lot of attention paid to minute environmental ambience, from the electric buzzing of fluorescent lights in a dank hallway to the bustling city sounds of New York. The sound effects are suitably scary, and I imagine it would've been fun to be a foley artist on this film. There are a few instances when the dialogue seems mixed rather low—I noticed this most with Amelia Warner's character—but in all other respects the mix is impressive, with a satisfyingly full and detailed sound. Supplements  I was hoping at least for a making-of featurette, but all we get here is a trailer (SD, 1:40). Final words  Anyone who has ever taken a high school or college sociology class will recognize the influence on the film of the real-life story of Kitty Genovese, a woman who was brutally murdered outside her apartment building while her fellow residents looked on and did nothing. It makes for a great premise, but the results here are mixed. The Echo rarely differentiates itself from the like- minded array of Asian horror remakes, but it makes up for its sameness with a few good scares and some excellent sound design. If you're up for some post-Halloween spooks, The Echo is worth a rental when it releases on November 10th. 
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