Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming

After a lucrative decade as part of Hollywood's teen brat pack, Rob Lowe was in the doldrums until he was saved by the brilliant West Wing. So his decision to propel himself back to similar depths of obscurity by starring in the sequel to 1999's Stir of Echoes in the Kevin Bacon role is somewhat puzzling. This is 90 minutes of clumsy, nonsensical horror. And worst of all, it comes with a message: tolerance. Ted Cogan (Lowe) is responsible for the accidental killing of a fleeing civilian family while serving in Iraq. He is injured and when he emerges from his coma and returns home to the United States, he is haunted by charred corpses and suffers from premonitions and night sweats. Is it a nightmare, or is someone out to get him? And why? Frankly, we don't care, and when the ghost's gripe is finally revealed, the director Ernie Barbarash feels the need to labour his preachy point by adding an inexplicable and confusing twist. The first installment could at least claim to be genuinely scary, but a series of squelching sounds and bumps in the night do not a horror film make, and this stinker went straight to DVD for very good reason. Let's just hope there are no plans for a third.
kboucher@thenational.ae