White Noise – Rating 2.5 out of 5

After watching all the Ghost Hunters episodes I decided to check out White Noise which is a movie based on the EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) – a way to record voices from the beyond the grave.

Micheal Keaton stars as the successful architect who loses his novelist wife in a random car accident. A mysterious man pays him a visit and claims he has messages from Anna in the Afterlife. Rivers (Keaton) breaks down and decides to hear what the crazy guy has to say. He hears a brief snippet of a static laden recording which is apparently his wife. He of course is immediately drawn in and wants to hear more.

He obsessively sets up recorders and televisions tuned to static in hopes of hearing her. Everything else falls to the wayside, including his son who stops coming to visit. After listening to and watching dozens of hours of audio and video, Rivers begins to get fragments of messages about evil deeds being done in the local area. Anna is trying to warn him so he can save these people. These visions allow him to save a baby trapped in a car and Rivers is convinced his wife is trying to help him.

Keaton pulls off the role of the depressed and desperate father and we are drawn to him (even after he blatantly ignores his son) because he shows the hurt of losing his wife. However, the plot is confusing and jumpy with far too many holes to keep it working smoothly. It’s haphazard and in plenty of places just doesn’t make any sense.

The beginning of the movie has lots of atmosphere as we hear whispers and see faint figures on tape. Is it a blur or is it someone? Was that a desperate cry for help? Rivers gets drawn in nicely, but once we’re there the movie falls apart as a supernatural detective wannabe flick.

Some say the ending is clever and different. Some say the ending is chaotic and confusing. To me it was a hodgepodge of images slapped together to try and be dramatic but comes of flat and without much meaning.

There is a lot of potential in this movie with lots of mood and the EVP angle was interesting, but by the time we got to the end I was ready for this movie to be over.

Other Articles of Interest:

• The Grudge 2 – Rating 1 out of 5
• Thr3e – Rating 3 out of 5
• An American Haunting – Rating 2 out of 5
• Saw II
• The Black Cat – Rating 3.5 out of 5
• Dreams in the Witch House – Masters of Horror – Rating 3 out of 5
• Exorcist II – Heretic – Ranking 3 out of 5
• Paranormal Activity – Movie Review
• Imprint – Masters of Horror – Rating 2 out of 5
• The Number 23 – Rating 2.3 out of 5