Echoes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Echoes Blu-ray Movie Review

'Echoes' won't linger.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 1, 2015

Though it looks like a Horror film and walks like a Horror film (though, fortunately, it doesn't quack like a Horror film), Echoes is actually a slyly disguised Mystery with deep psychological underpinnings and, yes, some Horror elements but not nearly enough to classify it as a typical "female in peril fighting against the odds" sort in the classic genre sense. But that push away from Horror and towards a somewhat more involved narrative doesn't necessarily make the film a success. Echoes, a picture from first-time feature writer and director Nils Timm, aims for a more "get under the skin" approach where personal struggles cross over the, for the purposes of this film and its protagonist, hazy line that separates reality and the imaginings of a fragile mind. The result is a mildly spooky though, sadly, not particularly engaging story that fails to find a truly likable character in the bunch or a weave a tight, cohesive, and even always coherent narrative that winds up even more confounded by an equally ambiguous finale.

Playing with fire.

Anna (Kate French) is a successful blogger and aspiring screenwriter whose boyfriend Paul (Steven Brand) isn't just her harshest critic, he's also the executive to whom she must pitch her writings. When her latest screenplay isn't so much rejected as it is said to be in need of a major rewrite, Paul suggests they travel to his desert glass house for a little rest and relaxation, a move that Paul hopes just might spark Anna's creative instinct. Soon after arrival, Paul is called away to work, leaving Anna alone with nothing but the dog and the fear of her sleep paralysis, a condition in which she is aware, awake, and feeling but cannot move. She treats it with a smorgasbord of medication, but it's not helping, and not on this trip in particular. It doesn't take long before her condition renders her terrified, seeing things that may or may not be there. Strangers outside her window and strange writings on the glass leave her in a state of panic. Soon, she begins the process of unearthing a terrible secret that could have dire consequences for all involved.

Echoes at least plays around with a somewhat tired but still relatively intriguing idea of paranoia brought on by either very real occurrences or the playings of a fatigued, confused, or in some way damaged or degraded mind. Or perhaps both. The film never quite leads audiences to believe that something may really be happening to Anna or if it's all just in her head, or if there's some middle ground where realities influence her delusions or, maybe even, vise versa. While it's an intriguing starting point, the picture never goes anywhere of much interest with it. The movie is too vague in construction and too murky in delivery to get to where it needs to go, even after a relatively strong start. The former at least can say it's intentional to let the audience decide what's happening to Anna and why, but the latter is too much of a distraction with not enough in the way of firm foundations to help the viewer put it together. The film does throw a few curveballs throughout its second and third acts by way of various revelations and goings-on that more robustly shape the characters, their environment, their interactions, the truths of who they are and what they have done and what the can and will do, but it's still a fairly hazy purgatory of storytelling that lacks not only thematic nuance but also more overt support from the cast and crew to elevate the movie above the level of mild curiosity.

Echoes is further hampered by a flat, monotone performance from Kate French who can't escape the clutches of a one-note effort that always looks and feels the same no matter the emotion she's physically striving to manifest, be that fear, doubt, uncertainty, inward pain, or the process of forming and pondering deep thoughts. She also doesn't have much to work with. Her Anna is a disappointingly flat character who appears to be nothing more than a host for her condition; even her writing career serves only a single purpose that itself ultimately feels tacky and needless. Steven Brand offers a much more complete, complex performance, evident particularly during a lengthy monologue near film's end. Writer/Director Nils Timm shows promise on both accounts. Echoes, from a production standpoint, isn't a standout, but he creates a fairly involved, sometimes invigorating world of mystery against a barren setting that offers a nice contrast between the safety of seclusion but, on the other side of the coin, the dangers of seclusion, where the only person who can really save Anna is Anna. The writing is sometimes sharp and sometimes flat; Anna is the film's real weakness, but there are plenty of good ideas in here that a trip to the desert couldn't sort out into something more agreeable...

Echoes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Echoes' 1080p transfer is a flat, glossy affair. The HD video source isn't particularly robust, but it is resilient. Though it's not consistently detailed with the sort of effortless sharpness one expects from a high end digital shoot -- there's more than a few soft scenes scattered throughout -- it finds enough tangible, complex details in places, mostly in its best-lit scenes, to satisfy base HD expectations for skin and clothes. The desert terrain is never quite so visually complex as one might hope, however. The film favors a predominantly gray and cold and carefully calculated palette that only goes brighter in the earthy and arid desert exteriors. There's not much here in the way of exceptionally brilliant color. Skin tones are usually reflective of the palette. Black levels appear constantly fatigued and pale. Heavy banding slathers a number of backgrounds. Fortunately, the image doesn't struggle with excess noise of blocking. Echoes is no showstopper, but Anchor Bay's transfer at least provides a serviceably watchable image.

Echoes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Echoes arrives on Blu-ray with a good all-around Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track finds a fairly strong and consistently engaging atmosphere, whether a barking dog in the distance, hooting owls across the back, light office din, or a strong desert wind howling through the listening area. The track also features a fair number of good quality bits of imagining, where sound effects are placed precisely around the stage in relation to on-screen orientation. Music is healthy and nicely defined with a good bit of back channel activity. Dialogue is usually robust and naturally clear save for a somewhat tinny stretch in a car when Anna and Paul are driving out to the desert.

Echoes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Echoes contains no supplemental content.

Echoes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Echoes plays around with some good ideas and clever happenings that are reason enough to watch, but the movie lacks the finesse and polish to truly engage the audience enough to care, to watch it again for clues, to take the time to sort it all out for the satisfaction of unraveling everything it has to offer. Structurally, the film isn't all that robust, and the lead performance leaves a lot to be desired. Anchor Bay's featureless Blu-ray offers decent picture and good sound. Rent it.