the audience applauded

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It was OK. It wasn't a deep thought provoking movie, and there wasn't a lot of gore and scary stuff for hardcore horror flicks, it's more of a thriller and not too badly done, just not memorable or worth paying hard bucks for. If you are looking for a deep discussion afterward, this wouldn't be the one to watch. I'd use it as a warmup during the lights on, gulping the beers or wine coolers, joking around, tossing pillows and chowing down on some messy snacks before the real movie starts time period. I'm not telling you what it's about because you already read that before scrolling down to the reviews. IMDb requires at least 10 lines for a review, so I am filling it in with this fact, since it would be stupid to fill it in with stuff you don't really want to read.

This is quite possibly the most hideously anti-American anti-patriotic film ever made by a western producer.Persons who support the American war effort in Iraq and who are opposed to terrorism are portrayed as hateful racists who commit an unthinkable crime in the name of patriotism.Then, these persons are brought to justice; not by secular forces, but by the supernatural and presumably infallible forces of the spirit world. It is a feeble attempt to put a supernatural stamp of approval on holier-than-thou liberalism.I recommend that you watch this film just to see how deeply entrenched the forces of skullduggery have become.

In "Stir Of Echoes", the always watchable Kevin Bacon played a man who began to see restless spirits after being hypnotised at a party and subsequently uncovered a terrible crime. "Stir Of Echoes: The Homecoming" utilises this premise and gives it a twist. Our main character here is U.S Patrol Captain Ted Cogan who is forced to give the order which leads to the death of a family in Iraq. He is also wounded and falls into a coma which - much like the hypnosis from the first movie - turns him into a 'receiver', able to see the ghosts around him."Stir Of Echoes: The Homecoming" uses the horror genre to comment on the situation in Iraq and its effect on Americans back home. For example, early in the story we have a party in which one of Cogan's neighbours makes a racist joke which results in laughter from some and an outburst of anger from Cogan. It's an interesting idea but, unfortunately, the script is not quite strong enough to quite carry it off. There's a good idea at work here but the movie comes off as far too preachy in places for its own good.The horror aspects are well done and very interesting. As the ghosts haunting Cogan become more frustrated and aggressive, their attacks become increasingly more violent. Much like Bacon's character in the first movie, Cogan also experiences various hallucinations related to future events. I certainly can't fault the work of director Ernie Barbarish who manages to stretch a small budget out so the movie looks great.If I had to point out the areas where this movie fails, the most obvious area is the casting of Rob Lowe as Cogan. It would be hard for any actor to follow Kevin Bacon but Lowe appears to sleepwalk through most of the movie. There are moments when you glimpse him come alive but, for the most part, he seems to be there just to pick up his money which is a shame. The second failing of the movie comes with its conclusion which simply didn't sit right with me at all.Strangely, Bacon's son from the original "Stir Of Echoes" appears in a cameo role in this movie but has been greatly aged which suggests that the sequel takes place many years later. Although it was a nice way to tie the two movies together, this decision ultimately baffled me.Despite its flaws, its still a watchable movie. If you enjoyed the first movie, then you might still enjoy "Stir Of Echoes: The Homecoming" if you can forgive its sledgehammer approach to racism and the current situation in Iraq. Unfortunately, if you've seen the first movie then you'll also probably realise where the story is going due to certain similarities in its plot. Is it worth purchasing on DVD? No. Is it worth a rental? Well, if you like supernatural horror movies then there are certainly worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

This movie was exceptionally well done for a Sci-Fi original movie, and in my opinion a very controversial one as well, considering the fact it deals with the current war in Iraq.To begin with a man named Ted Cogan (rob lowe) and other soldiers kill a van full of people in Iraq creating a huge conflict, thus sending Ted and his men back home. When he arrives back to his house he starts seeing visions of the victims that were killed in the van. Finally, when all his buttons have been pushed Ted decides to try and find out why this is happening to him and what all the symbolic occurrences taking place really mean.Now, here's the part that I found rather controversial, upsetting and at the same time sickening. I am myself an American, but during the part when Ted's son and two other of his friends kill what they believe to be an Iraqi citizen in the country side I felt ashamed to call myself American. Although people may think that this doesn't happen, it does. Maybe what bothered me about this scene the most was the brutality behind the murder. The beating, the dousing of alcohol, the setting him on fire, the locking him in a dumpster to burn so he can't get out, all of this seemed to be so hostile that I felt completely repulsed. And then there's the part of the mother, Molly. She confides in her husband that although this was horrible, she doesn't want her son to be charged with this crime and she asks her husband how they can cover it up.All and all, the movie itself was good and entertaining, it was just the last fifteen minutes or so that bothered me. People may agree with me, or may not agree with me, either way it doesn't affect me. I just wanted to voice my opinion about what I found to be a rather disturbing sequence of events in the movie I just watched.