[Stir Of Echoes 2:The Homecoming]
Plot:A soldier returns home from the Iraq war only to be haunted by visions of the dead.

Cast: Rob Lowe, Shawn Roberts, Zachary Bennett, Kim Roberts, Vik Sahay, Marnie McPhail, Tatiana Maslany, Krista Sutton, Grace Lynn Kung, Katya Gardner, Nicholas Carella, Pj Lazic, Greer Kent, Ben Lewis, Colin Williams, Jason Mercury.

My Thoughts:Good story but lacking in a strong horror element.

Review:"Stir of Echoes" in my opinion wasn't a very good film, but atleast it kept things strong in it's horror element. The sequel, "Stir Of Echoes 2:The Homecoming" tunes more into current events but loses it's horror edge very quickly. The film follows a U.S. soldier (Rob Lowe) stationed in Iraq who manages to survive an attack via explosive device. He returns home to his family in less than perfect shape, but alive nonetheless. But soon begins to see visions of the dead, which only get worse as long as he keeps ignoring them or pretending they're just temporary side effects of his near death experience.

"Stir Of Echoes 2" does an excellent job of laying out challenges for it's main character to overcome. Lowe's character has a very complicated family scenario with his current wife, his ex wife, and his troubled son. On top of all that, the visions of the deceased and soon to be deceased don't make things any better. However, the film hits a snag when it begins to float away from Lowe's character and introduce other non-essential characters into the movie, very uninteresting and poorly developed ones at that. The movie does do a decent job of pulling off the ever-so-difficult balancing act, cutting between Lowe's characters family life, which grows even more complicated as the films goes on, and him trying to get to the root of his terrifying visions.

Although the movie is also cryptic about it's overall direction. It really manages to keep one guessing, and doesn't show it's hand too early. But at the same time, it doesn't have that creepy, eerie feel of the original "Stir Of Echoes". Nor is it as sharply directed or well-acted. Rob Lowe is a good actor, but in this film he just doesn't work in the lead role. I am not sure if that is because of the script, or the lack of action in it. Lowe's character is certainly well developed, but overall he is really the only cog holding this mess of a film together.

Despite it's attempt to be more realistic by tieing into current events like the war in Iraq, the hard lfie of those who return from it, and the bigotry that some exhude because of it, the movie manages to come off as more so a social statement instead of a horror film. At some points, it seems the title "Stir Of Echoes" might've just been tacked onto the film to get people to watch and possibly buy it on dvd. Basically the same stunt pulled with "Lake Placid 2". The film also breaks alot of the so-called rules "Stir Of Echoes" set up, like Tom Witzky seeing a murder happen in his mind, while his young son had psychic visions of what was to come.

This film breaks those rules by giving Lowe's characters both powers, instead of giving one to someone else, thus possibly creating a more intriguing and complete story. Not to mention actually using some of the other characters outside of Rob Lowe for a change, which this film doesn't do often. When "Stir Of Echoes 2" finally does get to where it's going with the story, it does turn out to be quite an interesting, yet at the same time appauling revelation as to why Lowe's character keeps seeing the same ghost over and over again, and who was responsible for that persons death and why.

But thanks to it's lack of originality, and poor script, which mostly dilute what was a good overall story and idea, "Stir Of Echoes 2" manages to come off as just another one of those "I-can-see-the-dead" movies, instead of a sequel to an original and unique predecessor.

Positives:A good story overall. The climax and end revelation was well done also.

Negatives:Poor script, bad acting, even by Rob Lowe's standards. Not enough usage of supporting characters. An overall lack of entertainment value.

Overall:Not a worthy sequel.





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