Echoes of Fear is a 2019 thriller about a young woman who must confront the mystery of the sudden death of a relative and the evil that may linger behind it.
Alisa (Trista Robinson) gets some surprising news when informed that her grandfather (Norman Zeller) has unexpectedly passed away, leaving her with his modest but unusual estate. Unable to afford the place with upkeep and taxes, she decides it best to clean it out and sell it. Her boyfriend Brandon (Paul Chirico) offers to help but can only do so on the weekends, so Alisa is left to uncover what secrets lie in the shadows with her pal Steph (Hannah Race). Soon enough, there are bumps in the night, strange sounds, all kinds of oddities, and a curious neighbor (Marshal Hilton) that have the young women convinced they are not alone. But is this supernatural or is there something else going on?
Let’s assume you’ve seen a horror movie before. Then you’ve probably come with a certain level of expectation: spooky music, dim lighting, creepy visuals, eerie noises. The usual. Co-directors Brian Avenet-Bradley and Laurence Avenet-Bradley have surely seen a few horror movies as well and seem to know precisely what those expectations are, working to capitalize on them and then sort of find ways to give them a wrinkle. That means taking us into crawl spaces and darkened hallways and poking the bear per se in stoking some of our more primal fears in earning a few genuine frights. You’ll find yourself moaning at the obvious contrivances in working up scares (flashlights anyone?) while at the same time feeling, well, genuinely scared. Not many can make that work.
Part of the success in any haunted house movie is of course the house itself, and while Echoes of Fear is limited by its small budget, is grounded well by its authentic setting and the Avenet-Bradley’s good use of space. Sure, characters make some questionable choices in that space, but bound as they are to a rigid script, at least feel properly fitted. This is refreshingly devoid of the eyerolls that come with such stories, the horror in all this deviously menacing and cryptic, before evolving into something deeply traumatizing. I hesitate to hint at what that is, but it’s probably not what you expect. Good or bad, well done or not, that at least has some merit.
This is a movie that doesn’t hold your hand, with long stretches of action with barely a spoken word. It’s not a slasher movie either, though isn’t without some distressing imagery. You will and should be paying attention, especially in the latter half when things get more than a little trippy. What that all means is that Echoes of Fear surely earns its way, taking hold of a few sturdy tropes and propping them up with some gritty rawness that keeps this more nearer to dark than straight up scary. This is not a ‘fun’ horror movie, but instead a troubling, realistic fight to stay alive.
Some might not go for the turn it takes at the midpoint, the setup one thing that reveals something else. It embraces the conventions of generic horror, including the obvious ‘final girl’ mentality, then dips it all in a charnel house of terror bathed in a genuinely icky sense of plausibility. It’s not at all following all the rules, and that may be the best thing going for it, the low key approach to dread finding just the right hooks in delivering what it promises. Recommended.