Эхо (2004) watch online HD

During the opening scenes the dark, decrepit apartment block provided plenty of claustrophobia and paranoia and set me at unease before the titles had even finished.

The story is a strong and very visual one, and at times does seem to borrow from Asian horror, a fact that Laranas disputes in the audio commentary, but it never feels wrong. The characters are quite identifiable, even from such a different culture, and the actors are surprisingly good. They have their moments though, and the beautiful Locsinplays a few moments awkwardly, while Gutierrez has a few lines where his dialogue feels wrong for his character. The other male leads Yllana and Blanco provide very convincing performances, and as for Calzado, well she has some truly terrifying moments.

Calzado and Yllana manage to give such a believable performance as the abused wife and abusing husband respectively. This is done with suggestion and intent, and no actual violence. It's the looks in their faces and their utterly convincing tone that captures this, and I suspect that many will find these scenes very uncomfortable without them actually having any violence. This shows the strength of the script and Director.

By far the creepiest moments are with the child . When the apartment door opens without warning it's enough to scare you, but when the child runs in and hides under the bed, and with a blood red face, I admit Laranas had me freaked out. This feeling is reinforced when it occurs again and there is no child, just the camera hinting at the movements of someone. An excellent method of building unease in the audience.

Laranas knows the tricks of the trade when it comes to horror, the scares, screams and tension building is done very well, and even without the child moments there are some very scary moments...The scenes in the cinema and the toilet cubicle are superbly filmed. There's great use of the camera throughout, and the understanding that less actually more and subtlety is a wonderful trait.

The cinematography and sound are very strong aspects of the movie, perhaps the strongest, and there are some superbly visualised and filmed scenes. The sound effects and score are very complimentary to the movie and provide for excellent tension building.

However all is not great, there is a short section of the film where the characters leave the confines of the buildings that they inhabit, both home and work, and this feels slightly out of place in the movie. Suddenly the world is opened up and it feels as though they could just leave and the tension is temporarily halted. As soon as they return to the confines of the apartment though, the tension returns and builds back.

The story builds to good climax, where you genuinely are unsure what's about to happen. Indeed I wasn't sure as the final scenes played out, and I was quite surprised at the ending.

Picture: 1.85:1 Unfortunately this is the failing of the DVD. The picture is extremely harsh in white balance, bright areas very over exposed and at times far too bright, with dark areas being very dark, but not overly. It gives a good feeling for most of the movie but there are some scenes where it's very distracting.

At first I thought this was down to the style of filming, and I found it was starting to annoy me more and more, however when I watched the trailers in the Extras afterwards I discovered that it wasn't the filming, it was the picture on the DVD. Since then I've read another review that says this very same thing. The picture on the DVD heavily let's the movie down, and that's indeed a shame.

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 2.0 Subtitles: English The sound is one of the strongest features in this movie, with a good use made of the DD5.1 available to it. Effects happen around the scene, and it's not overly used so you're hearing sounds all around you, but it is used enough to provide depth to the scenes.

The score stands out and is a major contribution to the tension of the movie. It's very haunting and keeps itself in the background, slowly building and gently tapping at your shoulder. During key scenes it provides the weight to let you know the seriousness of the moment, but it never overpowers the movie.

Extras: Commentary, Behind the Scenes Featurette and Trailers Laranas is perhaps being one of the most mellow Directors I've ever heard. However he provides some good insight to the movie, the actors and some of the problems they faced. I actually found I enjoyed watching the movie a second time with his commentary, and it felt like it added more to the experience.

The Featurette provides direct footage of some of the scenes being filmed, but with no commentary it's not very interesting.

I was slightly disappointed that the trailers didn't carry subtitles. There are a number of trailers for other movies alongside all the trailers for Sigaw, and it is here that you see the picture was not filmed with this harsh contrast.

Overall This is a simple, and very effective story made so by excellent film making techniques in editing, cinematography and sound. This combination is what makes the movie effective in tension building and scare delivery. It's almost a traditional horror, a scary movie without the slasher and special effects that have been employed in the modern horror film.

The acting is strong, and provided a surprise for me in the quality of talent available to the Philippines. There are some weak moments, but nothing that distracts from the story which is kept going at an ever increasing pace.

This is a scary movie with some excellently filmed moments and superb soundtrack that will keep you tense and jumpy. A very enjoyable horror showing subtlety over slashing.

I sat down and watched this movie at first not expecting much. I've seen a few Philippine films before and considered them about on par with American TV movies due to their low budget. "Sigaw" shows the viewer that an impressive movie can be made when a quality script, quality director and quality actors get together.

"Sigaw" is the story of about a young man who moves into an apartment building and can't find peace because of the constant noise create by the domestic problems of his neighbors down the hall. The neighbor wife and daughter are being routinely terrorized and victimized by her jealous husband. The husband and wife engage in the same argument word for word every evening--literally! The new tenant begins to hear strange noises and see strange sights in the dark hallway and eventually in his apartment. He tells his girlfriend, who at first doesn't believe him and insists that he just move out, but she later discovers, much to her dismay, that there's something very strange going on at her boyfriend's place and that they both have been swept into a terrifying situation in which there is no apparent escape.

Sigaw reminded me of two other Asian scary gems--"Ringu" (later remade as "The Ring") and "The Eye." It's an excellent film that shouldn't be missed. One note: It is a foreign film, so there are subtitles, but much of the movie best scenes are, in fact unspoken.

I highly recommend it.

To start with, I'm an American "mutt." I don't consider myself to belong to any culture unless "white bread" should start appearing on the US census. I speak almost no Tagalog (Filipino), and understand little. That said, I watched "Sigaw" on DVD with English subtitles.

"Sigaw" is an interesting movie. It lacks the visual cues to let an American audience know "This is the present..." "this is the past..." but it's a movie that shows the history of a haunted apartment building in parallel (past and present). We see a struggling restaurant owner trying to make sense of the noises and getting little sleep. We see another younger man trying not to get involved in a very loud domestic dispute.

The movie centers on the present-day man trying to make sense of it, and just trying to get by, hopefully by ignoring it. The movie is mostly atmospheric, with a few surprises, and little gore. Similar to the "The Others" and "Sixth Sense", most of the fun is trying to figure out what's the story, and what's the right solution.

American cinema often borrows from foreign. "The Birdcage" is a remake of a French play. "The Ring" and "The Grudge" are both remakes from Asia. Doing an American remake of "Sigaw" might be worthwhile for a director who values atmosphere and story over effects and gore. On the whole, I'd recommend "Sigaw" for Americans who enjoy wondering about what goes bump in the night...

This is another I watched per reviews here on IMDb. I believe this is the first time I've watched a movie from the Philippines and I am quite impressed, overall.

The acting in this movie seems very well done, but I will put in my standard disclaimer about movies spoken in a foreign tongue to me: I do not speak Tagalog so therefore, my critique of the acting in this movie is based on body language and facial expressions. Everybody did a fine job, even the Ella Guervara, the actress who portrayed the little girl, Lara. As far as actors, I'd say the star was Iza Calzado. I don't imagine it's too easy getting in the mindset of an abused woman.

The atmosphere in this movie is incredible. The tension, drama, suspense, and action were all set up quite well. The music was on cue with the mood the director tried to set up for the audience. The lighting was just right for each scene. Nothing seemed out of place in this movie.

When I watched this movie, I felt upset and angry. There were a few scare moments but mostly because of "noise tactics", which I consider the low-blow of horror cinema. A couple of scenes did frighten me though, such as when Bert was about to beat Anna over the head with a police baton. In all though, this movie made me upset at the ineptitude of my fellow man. It is very disappointing for me to see that we, as a species, can 1) hurt each other so much and 2) allow others to hurt ourselves or the people we know.

If you happen to see this title at your local Blockbuster or, more likely, at your mom-and-pop video store (do they have such stores in smaller cities, or is it just in major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco?), go ahead and pick it up. You might want to logoff of your game of World of Warcraft and pay close attention. This movie was well done and deserves the attention.

Philippine cinema hasn't seen a horror movie with so much artistry and passion since the production of Sigaw. For the past 30 years or so, Filipinos only witnessed campy and hack horror films. Filipino producers could only produce 3-in-1 feature lengths or even worse, over used monster films based from Filipino folk tales like the Tikbalang or Tiyanak. These days, local movie studios are just contented doing hack films from Asia and America. The makers of Sigaw pulled all the strings in their power to create something different and original.

Forget about the depth of the story, Sigaw was not made to rip off awards. Sigaw was made simply to give its audience a good scare. In this regard, the movie succeeds all expectations. Director Yam Laranas implores all the necessary ingredients to deliver a high octane adrenaline rush flick. His visuals combined with Almbert Michael Idioma's sound then edited by Manet Dayrit made a bone chilling movie experience.

Sigaw is the comeback movie from Yam Laranas. After his last 2 films, Laranas finally went back to his forte, the suspense genre. This reemergence so to speak is similar to Gus Van Sant's return in doing his masterpiece, the Elephant. I am thankful for Laranas for going back to his roots and doing Sigaw. At long last, there is a Filipino horror film i could be proud of. Moreover, this could be the very first Filipino horror film to scare the entire world!

The Echo (Sigaw) has teeth and it sinks deep through your bones. Predictable in some scenes but very unique in storytelling and the "scare" factor. Cinematography is excellent as well as music/sound and editing. This film is so scary that it will frighten you even after you've seen it. Very eerie and very claustrophobic. It would be cool if Hollywood will pick this movie and do a remake...I just wish they won't mess the story up too much. The movie's simplicity is what makes it scary. The "realness" is what makes it unique in some sense. It's very frightening because of the way the director made the film effective even without any special effects. I think that what makes The Echo (Sigaw) a very scary film. Must watch!

Just when horror movies were becoming predictable, SIGAW and its director Yam Laranas came along to deliver the biggest scare of all.

And it's a scare that's not achieved with special effects and thick makeup and even thicker music -- but by going to the core of what really scares us.

That noise we can't explain. That thing that doesn't look right. That person who is there but should not be there. Something that seems to be following you.

Sigaw is genuinely, deeply creepy.

I don't know if Hollywood would see they've got a gem of a film here. Sigaw has its peculiar sense of timing. It certainly doesn't conform to a Hollywood formula of one scare per ten minutes. There is a long scene where the director keeps you in a state of simple nervous expectancy. And then are there are non stop scares where you're hardly allowed to breath. But that's exactly why fans of horror will need and want this one. It's a shot in the arm for the genre.

During the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (www.bifff.org) we saw ECHO. We wanted to be scared and we were... We didn't expect to be that scared. That's why our vote is high. But, we must say the actors weren't that good. We saw easily that they were playing a role, they weren't realistic. The sounds made us make jumps from our seats. The story was revisited but all the stuff around made that movie watchable. The make up was well done. We really like that kind of film here. The Asian films are the best. But we only can see them during festivals or events. That's quite sad for us. Thanks to all the people who made all that events possible. We really appreciate that from here.

Let's evaluate this for a second. I'm a non-Filipino and I am a huge fan of world cinema. Even though I would agree that some of the most talented performers are residing or undiscovered in the Philippines, the cinema usually leaves something to be desired - no offense. With the recent wave of Japanese horror rip offs, it is no surprise that the RP has followed suite. This is not a bad thing - in fact it is a breath of fresh air to see the recent wave of Filipino thrillers straying from the style that most other countries abandoned in the 60's. I do however think that the Philippines is not the place for this genre. Their cinema still requires that all actors be of model quality looks. For me, this takes away from the story. What so many other countries lack, that Japan offers is believable characters (looks and acting), a haunting score, a respect for the audience, drama first, and most importantly the sound scape - which I found missing in this film (an uncanny coincidence is that Sigaw won a big award for it's sound - case and point). On to the film: There are always certain elements that Filipinos include in their movies that no others can relate to. This is fine, but make it reasonable for us foreigners to relate or understand. Things like, how come everyone is beautiful and looks mestizo - explain, I've been to the Philippines and have never seen that. If they are so good looking, yet dirt poor, they would be in show business - not struggling in a crappy, haunted loft - hey you guys set this up - not me.

The thing that kills me is, the story was 'good', not great, but they have taken the obvious parts of the Japanese Juon Trilogy and poorly executed it in this film - leaving out any of the rich folklore in the Philippines. If you borrow a story, at least pout an original spin on it. Another bothersome factor **spoiler** is when the ghost follows the couple everywhere short of the toilet - tip - you don't have to use every single shot you filmed. In any case, I feel that this film is a huge achievement in Filipino cinema, pushing it one step closer to international recognition - but they still have a long way to go before it can be taken seriously. I am rating this while putting aside most of my international comparison. This film does not deserve a 1 and does not deserve a 10 - so for the benefits to Filipino Cinema I rate it at 7. Good job Lam - I am eager to see where you go next. Although I stress that an American remake is a bad idea capital BAD.

but probably cry...

Truly i have seen plenty of Filipino horror films for the past decade (more noticeably the 90s era where most pinoy horror films where nothing more than laughed at shadows to it's former classic roots). But it's changed for the past few years, and this is one of them. Sigaw (trans title: THE SCREAM *or Hollywood title THE ECHO) sets around a man named Marvin who has bought a room (reffered as Unit) in a rundown apartment. Every night there has been shouting and loud banging of abuse from his neighbors. A Policman who suspects his wife having a lover hidden in the apartment enrages him. Soon the wife starts asking for help from him. Not till long that Marvin is caught up in all the mess that has been created. It will not only destroy his residential stay, but probably his life. Sigaw more than ranks up with one of Asia's most noted horror films. Though as usual, more dramatic than scary. It puts a mood of sadness through out the film. Making you actually care about what the characters have to go through. With it's moody plot, addicting characters, great scenery shots (trust me, if you've seen half of the filipino movies i have, this pretty much has the shooting budget of Star Wars), and so much atmosphere with a lot of nicely edited composed score. This is one film you should not pass up. Though it will be hard to find a copy of the DVD in the Us (though probably near you at a local Filipino Store, or at the Regal site). But already has been given a US Remake to boot. Surely this film will at least reach cult status.

I got to see this movie back when it was first shown as part of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (when only local films are allowed to be shown in theaters). The audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive as we all screamed and gasped in the right places.

Admittedly, the film is hardly original but it still manages to create a personality of its own, distinct from the Japanese and other Asian horror films. The film's worst flaw is its use of similar looking actors for scenes taking place in the past and present. This creates some confusion in the audience as to what exactly is happening.

Otherwise, the film is laudable in the way it effectively marshals its limited resources (it takes place essentially in one setting) to create a very creepy and atmospheric film. This is a must for fans of horror movies.

THE ECHO is a VERY low budget ghost story made in the Philippines. The tale is about a guy who buys an apartment in a run down old building which turns out (naturally) to be haunted by various spirits with sinister intentions. The model for this film is very much RINGU and the Japanese ghost story in general, so there's a dingy, grubby look to the surroundings and lots of slow-burning suspense. Sadly, the budget is so limited that it all adds up to very little in the end, but at least all of that creeping about in the dark adds up to a little atmosphere.

***** Warning - there are some spoilers in here

I sort of liked this and sort of didn't. It's not a straightforward movie to review.

The acting was wonderful, there's some fantastic cinematography and tension building direction - reminiscent of Hitchock. The story is OK, some character development and you do care what happens to them. Lashings of spooky atmosphere. Quite creepy at times and moody with a hint of Gothic.

On the other hand, there are some very silly plot holes and devices, not enough depth/backstory etc to the characters, the ending is rubbish and there are several annoying bits that just go on far too long.

Spoiler alert*** I first got unforgivably distracted & annoyed in a scene where Pinky keeps getting in and out of an elevator with some mildly spooky goings on around her. It got to the point where I was yelling "Oh for gawds sake stop getting in the damn elevator!" because it all seemed so pointless and stupid. It was wasted footage (one of my pet peeves) and didn't add anything to the movie, in fact it detracted severely from the overall suspense. The "spooky goings on" became boring and mundane due to their repetition (with nothing really happening) so it ended up being less scary than say... rats running around in there. Our girl seemed awfully scared tho. So why didn't she take the stairs at any point? Not to mention her ridiculous reason for all this leaping about in elevators.

Another example is the fairly tense and climactic "screaming at the door scene". Seriously, it felt like that scene just went on for years with nothing changing, not even the dialogue. Just the same lines being repeated (screamed) for I dunno, 10? 15 minutes. Maybe it just felt that long. At this point I started fast forwarding the vid because the whole scene was irritating me beyond reason. And once a movie has me reaching for the FF button it's pretty much all over bar the shouting. Goodbye suspense/horror/thrills etc. It was just "yeah OK so when does something interesting happen & how fast can I get to the final scene" I fast forwarded most of the final half hour at least. Shame because I think the flick has so much going for it but was let down by a few serious bungles.

I recommend this movie for fans of subtle horror, suspense & drama but not for hard core horror/gore/slasher/thrill-seeker fans. Next to OldBoy or Audition this is Mary Poppins.

Lastly an observation - It felt like the Director wanted to make a statement about battered wives - and I applaud him for that. It doesn't detract from the film but makes it a bit more serious-minded than most horror/ghost stories.

I say go ahead and rent it! It's better than about 90% of the dross out there and has enough suspense and intrigue to keep it interesting till the somewhat unfortunate end. As a bonus, it's spooky enough to satisfy mild horror cravings but suitable for older kids so you can watch it with the family!

Besides, the lead male actor is very expressive and one of the prettiest male actors I've ever seen. Must go find his other movies so I can stare lustfully at him some more :D

This is as been I on watch list for time and so as the remake even thought the plot sound so-what different.

First 20 minutes of the movie, It the look of it was bit too much like Dark Water (Which I only saw yesterday) but as carried on, it was nothing like Dark Water at all.

The story is a little predicable here and there but how they filmed this movie was great. they really manage to really creepy you out.

There not many Jumps scenes in this movie for one second and move on this movie dose not want to scare you, it want to creep the hell out of you.

Some of those well really well shot and I was really creepy out in some scenes the hair and the back of neck start stand up.

I really enjoyed how the story and movie came to a end,

Few thing could have been better, I could had better lead actor as Some of the acting wasn't great but it was more then watch-able.

I don't why but I do feel that some of subtitled didn't fit in right with some of the scene.

This was one the best ghost stories I seen in a long time 8 out of 10

I had to watch this movie 3 times in order to catch it beginning to end. Some parts of the movie were THAT slow. The eerie music came on loud enough to start to annoy me.

The abuse scenes were troubling to watch but I've seen worse. It was haunting though. I was kind of disappointed at the end. Even if it would have been corny if the curse didn't go away I don't think it would have been a bad way to end the movie though. There are just way too many movies with 'to be continued' type endings. I'd say the movie theatre & bathroom scene would have to be the scariest parts of the movie.

Look past the production value of The Echo (Sigaw) and you'll know what I'm talking about.

While yes, the cinematography, direction and editing is good, the attempts at scaring viewers is too obvious and highly predictable. After 10 minutes into the film, I already know the basic story and the possible outcomes. At least The Others had me wondering for an hour.

One thing Laranas must take into account is more attention to detail. He spend too much time making sure his shots is eerie enough to be part of the horror genre, but he (and the entire production crew) forgot details that would have added much realism to the movie. Yllana's "costumes" are way too clean for a two-bit police officer - his uniform is too new and doesn't look even used. I was bothered at the lack of blood splatter on him and his clothes during the hacking scenes. Was he wearing an invisible shield? Even the stick was clean (and not dripping with blood after hitting Calzado several times over) when he went for the little girl. Getting beaten up on the head by a police stick would usually result to a cracked skull, and not merely a small wound oozing out blood. Normally, a person would be literally knocked out and be unable to stand, much less protest. The wound on Guevarra's head changes places - from the right side of her head when she first appears in the elevator, and then on the left sometimes center side in other parts of the movie. Can someone make a decision where the wound should be? And stick to that decision.

On to the actors: too rehearsed, bad and not to mention "forgetting what to do next". They are all too conscious of their own looks. I'm sure that if I get kicked, dragged, punched – my hair would be a mess. But not Locsin, whose hair falls back into place quite beautifully after the scene. Another idea for a hair commercial? Probably. Secondly, night-after-night beatings would definitely result in a swollen upper lip, a bruised cheek and all that. This time, not Calzado, who only has a few minor "charcoaled-in" bruises.

The eerie-ness of the movie was not helped by the sound effects that were just too loud. After a while you started to expect it already. It would have been better to have more naturally creepy sounds than music that get too loud at "suspenseful" moments.

There are also scenes that elicit a "huh?", which I will not discuss because I am sure that there are people who has not seen the movie yet. It's not a great "scare" movie but if Hollywood will do a remake, maybe it will be a better version. Laranas should review his movie and plug the holes so there will be no leaks this time.

(Possible Spoiler)

The movie is very Predictable but nicely done, every scene is really creepy though it shows that this film is a low budget one...

The story only evolves on the same path of actions. As the movie ends -- probably you'll already memorize lines that kept on repeating all over again..

As the movie reaches the finale, there's still many things left without closure, so you'll end up with lots of questions to yourself such as:

1.) What happened to the first tenant of the apartment room 306? he's the one to be hunted by the spirits of Anna and Lara (Izza Calsado & Denise Guevarra) not other innocent people...

2.) Did the parents of Pinky (Angel Locsin) Already forgive Marvin (Richard Gutierez)?

3.) What happened to the remains of their body? who seen them on 7th floor? what happened to the case?

Many thing's are left without closure, and will leave you lots of questions,but this is a good thrilling experience though,the movie is executed nicely...

This is the most rudimentary ghost story I've seen in some time, and also one of the most frightening. It re-awoke what I used to know as a child but a surfeit of ghost stories and movies had since made me forget: how horrible it would be to be haunted. The constant fear of coming home, or going to sleep, or turning around.... The sense of this is conveyed partly by the plain but nerve-jangling music and sound, partly by the two leading actors, who know how to be scared, but mainly, I think, because the movie observes its ghosts with the same directness and apparent belief as its living characters. It is helped in this by the absence of high-tech effects, and also by its inelegant look (which may have been intentional): grotty color, blurry focus, and a general air of undependableness. This is one for ghost story fans to watch alone in the dark.

Within 8 minutes you can figure out what is going on. But it takes the director almost forever (85 minutes) to reveal the story officially to the viewer as if someone still hasn't a clue by then even when a certain event gets repeated over and over again. And if there had been some twist at the end or something else to compensate than I could have forgiven the director for this mistake. Sadly there aren't any surprises to be found in this movie.Sigaw started out pretty good by building a tense atmosphere only to ruin it with loud sound effects. The main character early on hears but also sees things. And this is the part that doesn't make sense. The place he lives is in a dump. Apparently he is one of the few people who are staying in the building. All the other tenants have fled. Still he refuses to leave his precious unit. Why? That never gets explained.(Well,he mentions he has bought the unit. But somehow this reason doesn't convince me enough since he has a very sweet mother who wants him to return to his old home.) It would have created some sympathy towards this character if we understood why it is so necessary for him to stay. Now he just seems very stupid who has an even more stupid (but good looking) girlfriend called Pinky who does things a normal person in their position never would do. The whole time we have to endure the lack of real thrilling moments combined with the stupid actions of these characters.If you managed to stay awake till the ending than you'll find out that there is no reward for doing so since the ending is complete abysmal and the most stupid of endings I have ever seen.I hate to say it but there is nothing that Sigaw offers that is worth watching. Waste of time!

This movie is pointless, too boring and too predictable. In less than 10 minutes we understand what is going on: a family used to live there and the dead wife used to ask a guy to stay with her daughter while her police-drunk husband spanked her. The other guy and pink are in the present but the dead wife "stills around" 'cause he must open the door. Just that! Then, the history which is already self-explanatory, is explained over and over again. It's really boring, If you want to see a hell of a movie watch "a tale of two sisters" beats the crap out of this movie! A friend of mine didn't even watch it till the end, 'cause he was really suffering (lol!)