Echoes of Fear

Starts out as a relatively conventional haunted house full of ghosts, then turns into something more. Lots of jumps, creepy images, and nerve racking twists.

Okay so I'm so surprised!! This was kind of decent. Now you do have to get past the baby voice that the main character does. I won't lie, it's pretty bad. But after you accept it, the story itself isn't bad! A few jump scares and some mysterious things happen. Story was intriguing enough for me! Good suspense. Low budget but I've honestly seen a lot worse. If you like thriller/suspense/horror similar to What Lies Beneath and some elements of Sixth Sense. Great watch for Prime Video! Side note: The pet rat in here (Twinkie?) is super impressive with his skills LOL I'm not a pet rat enthusiast or anything but I do love animals. And let me tell you this rat in here is intuitive, athletic and skilled. He's so dang cute and funny! He's a Hollywood rat and deserves all the cheese. So pleasantly surprised with this low budge thriller/ horror!!!

The story, at its core is a great- conceptually. It takes the basics of a creepy, haunted house tale and layers in a couple of complexities that heightens the interest level. . For most of what "Echoes Of Fear" is, it is really chilling, dark and well directed. There is some moments when expositional stuff feels forced. At times line delivery weakens story momentum.

The inconsistency is only barely noticeable, and for the most part the film is strong. The acting is good, at times great. The characters are developed and the cast never take them too far into 'theatrics'. It is obvious this is ultra indie work, still Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley create a cool, atmospheric thriller.

The horror elements are a mix of traditional haunted house tropes, chilling visual scenes and very dark subject matter. Most of the gimmicks are practical effects with expected CGI work. It all is well controlled, purposeful and affective. The jump scares are genuine moments and just going along with the main character uncovering such a disturbing past is horror done right.

Overall "Echoes Of Fear" has more to like than I initially expected. It isn't sensationalized for the sake of sensationalism, but it keeps a chilling, "this house possessed" attitude from start to finish. The paranormal tricks used look good, the build up of suspense and tension is gripping. There are a couple of minor issues with some of the writing- the ones I mentioned earlier but definitely check this one out if paranormal horror is your thing.

A young woman called Alysa (played by Trista Robinson, who has the voice of a young child, this was pretty annoying!) inherits her late grandfather's large house. She moves in with a view to selling it but almost immediately spooky things start to happen, including a creepy cookie jar, the top of which moves by itself. About half an hour we and we get our first supernatural jump scare, I'm man enough to admit this and the following one did work on me. However, they soon became ineffective. What appealed to me about this movie is that the ghosts are only half the horror, in fact if anything they are the goods guys, despite looking "scary". The real horror is much more real, as her best friend says "Whatever this is it's way beyond ghosts!". The film has a fairly small cast which includes an elderly man living next door who is a chain smoker despite being attached to a portable oxygen tank, and a delightful pet mouse, rightfully given a credit (Twikie and Twixie). There are some obviously fake reviews on here giving it 10/10 but in a sea of mediocre horror movies this one was slightly better than average. I'd not watch it again but I found it a satisfying watch.

As others have mentioned, the lead character has a soft baby-like voice, which is obviously a little distracting since it's my first comment and the first comment made by many other reviewers too. But it's NOT a fatal flaw. In fact, to her credit, her acting is completely credible and her character is both likable and relatable. She could easily be someone's sister, neighbor or friend. I actually think she is very well cast in this film.

After the plot is laid down, there is considerable suspense and tension throughout. Is she being watched? Is she safe? Will she die? Etcetera

Yes, there is some unavoidable cliche in this type of storyline, but my advice is to go with the flow. Most people who like suspense will enjoy this movie because there are enough scare scenes and unknowns to keep it interesting. The scares result from the tension and the unknowns, not because of anything explicit or gory.

This is a lower budget movie. However it never felt homemade. It's easy to fall into the "film student experimental movie" trap but this movie is far from that...it's a legit movie production. So credit where credit is due! Kudos to everyone who worked on this movie.

Definitely worth a watch!