The Echo is the Hollywood adaptation of Filipino director Yam Laranas' horror movie Sigaw. Sigaw starred local actors Richard Gutierrez, Angel Locsin, Jomari Yllana, and Iza Calzado. When I heard that Sigaw was going to be remade into a Hollywood film with Iza Calzado reprising her role in the original, I was really looking forward to watching it. The thing is, I've never seen Sigaw. I've only heard good things about it.The Echo is about an ex-convict named Bobby (Jesse Bradford) who moves in to his mom's apartment when he is released on parole. Soon after he starts hearing noises in the middle of the night and realizes that there's something going on in the apartment beside his. It seems that an abusive cop lives next door, frequently beating up his own wife and daughter.
Bobby finds himself more and more drawn to what's happening next door, only to find out there's much more to the situation than meets the eye.
I'll say it straight off, I didn't find The Echo all that scary. I say this without much expectation since I have aboslutely no idea about the original film, thus I don't really know what's supposed to happen in the story. I fell asleep in the first part of the film because everything unraveled at a snail's pace -- and it didn't help that we waited two whole hours for the movie premiere to start. It was about 9pm when they finally dimmed the lights in the theater. The Echo is extremely dragging up until the part when Bobby finally finds a job and settles in his mom's apartment. After that, things start to get more exciting.
Jesse Bradford does a great job as Bobby. The film doesn't have too much dialogue in general but you can feel Jesse's confusion and paranoia gradually build up over the course of the strange events around him. Amelia Warner plays his pretty girlfriend Alyssa, while Iza Calzado reprises her role as the abused wife next door Gina. Typical Asian horror elements can be found in The Echo. I mean, what is it with the creepy woman and child with hair in their pale faces walking around extra slowly stalking people? I think I've seen this phenomenon in several Asian horror films. As I have never watched Sigaw, I was quite surprised by The Echo's ending. Iza Calzado gets to say a few lines in the final scenes of the movie, and I thought she delivered them quite well.
All in all The Echo isn't a bad film, but I find that a lot of areas could use improvement. The pacing is way too slow for me to get really scared. Although I've seen the creepy woman and child bit many times in the past, it's still admittedly pretty frightening.
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