David Arnold There seems to be a strange misconception among young, wannabe filmmakers that horror films are the easiest genre to tackle in order to get noticed. While this was very much true in the past, nowadays it's not the easy gateway that it once was, primarily because it's nearly impossible to come up with an original idea or a satisfying enough twist on a familiar one to warrant an entire film being made.Echoes is the kind of flat, uninspired film that only seems to have been made to prove that writer/director Nils Timm could make one. It made no difference to him that it's a massive pile of clichés or that its story makes little to no sense.The problem is that it will make a big difference to those unfortunate enough to sit through it, for they will be treated to a lazily-written film that has nothing to offer anyone looking for a little bit of thrills and chills. At the very least, viewers will be able to play the "plothole game," where you simply add up the number of inexplicable events as the film goes on, including why someone would build a glass house in the middle of the desert, why this couple would want to go stay there, why Anna would choose to be stranded out in the middle of nowhere in her condition, and many more.It's not that it's a badly made film, but rather that the screenplay was simply a mess and it's thanks to this lazy and amateurishly-written screenplay Echoes is nothing but a bland horror (if you can call it that) offering that is more likely to bore you rather than give you the slightest chill.Clichés don't have to be a bad thing if they can be used well, but writer/director Nils Timm seems to be using them whenever possible just because he can't come up with something more original. This leaves us with a film that we feel as though we've seen several time before, concluding with the ultimate insult to the audience in its last few seconds.This is definitely a film to avoid.

ssmorley So it's not a fantastic film, but I did enjoy it. A slow start to the film, but it kept my attention and hot me thinking.The only thing annoys me about it, is the way it was ended was left open for a prequel, which would of been interesting to see where the writer would of taken it.

Uberkills I can handle slow films. But even if a film is slow, it's got to have something interesting to keep you engaged. Echoes barely had any of it. There was nothing surprising about the story. A ghostly spirit takes a golden opportunity of using a woman's sleep paralysis problem to hijack her body to well, get revenge on her husband who killed her. That's really it. It does get suspenseful during the first half but by the time the film is going to be over, it's just exposition after exposition. Again, Echoes offered nothing new and spectacular to horror. However, on the bright side, I was quite impressed with the quality of the cinematography and the movie was filmed at some beautiful locations in the California desert. The acting was fairly decent and a minimal cast is always great too.5/10

begob Writer with mental problems alone in an isolated house. Things go bump in the night and a dark secret is slowly revealed.Solid story that builds creepiness, then turns promisingly weird at 45 mins. But it falls into the class of psychological thriller using ghosts to beef up the tension.The acting is good, but the heroine is a dull character. Insomnia, alcohol dependency, sleep paralysis, prescription pills - something seriously wrong with her, but the screenplay shows no quirks, flamboyance, humour. Flat effect, and the dialogue really doesn't help.In the end her character has nothing to do with it - she was just an accidental conduit. And yet she has the blood of two innocent men on her hands - who cares? The pace and music are good, but the final sequence is hectic - like they're trying to rush the unsatisfying ending off the stage. And of course another plot that gets the implausible cops-will-be-here-any-minute treatment - always a sign of weak story-telling.Overall, good build up but it missed the chance to go full ghost and deliver on the weirdness. Make the heroine the villain and you have good horror.