Echoes
(2014/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: C+
There
have been a rush of paranormal films lately with one of them being
Nils Timm's Echoes - an independent film that starts out
pretty intriguing but ultimately falls into familiar storytelling
territory and becomes staler than three day old pizza, with one of
the worst final acts in recent memory. Consisting of hardly any
practical special effects, the ghostly encounters are digitally
enhanced (not terrible looking however) and lucid - with the film at
times picking up a Lost Highway/David Lynch-ian sort of vibe.
Struggling
with horrifying, sleep-paralysis induced visions, a young
screenwriter named Anna (with a decent performance by Kate French)
retreats with her manager and sorta boyfriend named Paul (Steven
Brand) to an isolated desert house made primarily out of glass. (The
location looks great on film - kudos to the location scout.) When
Paul gets a call that he has an emergency meeting out of town to
attend to, he leaves Anna at the house alone with his adorable dog
and things are at first peaceful. She gets to walk the beautiful
desert landscape, get some writing done, and even meet a kinda
strange neighbor who lives nearby.
Well,
sooner or later when she goes to sleep, her visions intensify and she
starts seeing the ghostly vision of a woman who looks strikingly
familiar to a photo she saw of Paul's ex-girlfriend. Right after
that, weird writing is graphitized on the glass house and an unusual
surveillance video shows some shocking evidence. Is Anna a killer?
Could Paul have something to do with these ghastly encounters or is
Anna finding herself in a situation much like the one in her
in-progress script?
Admittedly,
the finest aspect of the film is its cinematography, which is
consistent and stylized throughout. Ultimately, however, it's the
film's short running time (They ran out of money? Length cut against
someone's will?) and abrupt ending that ultimately left me
unfulfilled. The build-up doesn't quite pay off here and while the
film starts to at first grab interest it soon becomes pretty
predictable. Points off also for (SPOILER) killing the dog. John
Wick would not approve.
Anchor
Bay did a fine job with the sound and picture on the disc with a
1080p high definition transfer in anamorphic widescreen and a lush
DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless track. Shockingly enough, there are no extras
on the disc - just an intriguing menu.
If
you're craving another paranormal yarn, there are worst films than
Echoes. It just ultimately felt like it was going to pack
more of a punch than the first ten minutes tease.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
