(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG and thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
These westernized versions of Asian horror films have now become so passé that they actually seem to be a parody of themselves at this point. Originality has gone out the window and banality seems to be the driving force. The Echo, starring Jessie Bradford and Amelia Warner, is one such film in a long line of films that arose in the wake of the success of 2002’s The Ring, a film that actually had the advantage of novelty and being genuinely scary. But two Grudges, and a whole host of other copycat films later, and this whole suspenseful, scary, long black-haired ghost lady genre is done. Finished. Kaput.
The Echo throws its much belated hat into the ring as a remake of the Filipino horror film Sigaw. An ex-con (Bradford) comes home to his dead mother’s apartment only to begin hearing eerie noises coming from inside the walls and to become embroiled in the domestic violence of his abusive next-door neighbour, which pulls him and his girlfriend (Warner) into a curse.
What unfolds is one long snooze-fest of a thriller, filled with “suspenseful” peeks around corners, strange sounds, and the obligatory longhaired ghost lady-cum-stalker. Sigh. Haven’t we seen this same film several times before? With some minor variations to the story, this could be any number of films in this genre, like, say, Shutter, and that one was quite dull as well.
Video Quality
The Echo’s 2.35:1 AVC/MPEG-4 transfer effectively captures the film’s moodiness. Blacks are deep and stable with an impressive amount of shadow delineation. Film grain is sharp, but a little inconsistent. The film’s palette alternates between the warm tones of Bobby’s apartment building to colder tones of outdoors Manhattan and office scenes, and the various shadings of the film come across distinctly. Textures in clothing and skin are rendered nicely and detail is extended well into the background. This is another case of Blu-ray showing once again that even a lackluster movie can look really good on the format.
Audio Quality
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) soundtrack is the sole option offered for this release, but it is a good one. Despite lacking a bit in low frequencies, the aggressively soundtrack filled with moody atmospherics and discrete sound effects mixed all throughout the soundstage make for a surprisingly entertaining mix. Sounds come from behind you, the sides, sometimes right over your head. It’s absolutely dripping with ambience that holds it all together and dialogue is clean as well. One issue with the sound on this mix is that the high frequencies are a bit harsh and grating and given that there are many moments whee the sound effects become quite loud, this can become fatiguing after awhile.
Supplemental Materials
Supplements? Try a trailer in standard definition, and that’s it. This isn’t exactly a value added release from Image Entertainment.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
The Echo looks well enough and it actually sounds really good, but unless you want everyone to fall asleep at your Halloween party, I wouldn’t plan on putting this one on during any horror marathons.
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Overall
These westernized versions of Asian horror films have now become so passé that they actually seem to be a parody of themselves at this point. Originality has gone out the window and banality seems to be the driving force. The Echo, starring Jessie Bradford and Amelia Warner, is one such film in a long line of films that arose in the wake of the success of 2002’s The Ring, a film that actually had the advantage of novelty and being genuinely scary. But two Grudges, and a whole host of other copycat films later, and this whole suspenseful, scary, long black-haired ghost lady genre is done. Finished. Kaput.
