White Noise Movie Review:


After finding out that his wife Anna (West) was pregnant, Jonathan Rivers (Keaton) is the happiest man alive but when Anna doesn’t return home that night, he starts to fear the worst. Two weeks later, Jonathan is approached by Raymond Price (McNeice) who tells him that Anna is dead but she is communicating with him through the medium of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon). Jonathan dismisses his claim until he hears Anna’s voice on his answering machine.

After years of gore and killing teenagers, Hollywood has finally realised that there is more to horror with Asian cinema pointing the way. Can ‘White Noise’ scale the same heights of terror as ‘The Ring’ or ‘The Grudge’? No, but it is a good try.

EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is an intriguing subject matter for a movie and has infinite possibilities in today’s technology driven world. The ideal that the dead can communicate through audio and visual mediums such as television, radio, telephones etc was touched upon in ‘The Ring’ but this tries to take the phenomena a lot further than a video tape. Here we get to hear and see the dead on the phone and on the TV and this sets up the potential for some good shocks.

Why the Asian approach to horror has worked so well over the last few years is that the filmmakers rely on shocks and not gore to get their frights. Sudden flashes, fast cuts and the power of suggestion can breed much more fear than a masked killer with a bloody knife. ‘White Noise’ tries this but only succeeds some of the time. There are some genuine jumpy moments here but nothing to really creep you out and have you cowering in fear. The reason is a lack of tension and backstory. Asian movies always have a tale behind the ghost’s appearance but ‘White Noise’ doesn’t explain the motivations behind the ‘three spirits’. This means the tension is not as high as it could have been and the characters and story are not developed enough.

Michael Keaton was a superstar in the late 80s early 90s but his star has fallen over recent years and it is hard to understand why. He is a very good actor who just doesn’t seem to be offered the roles he was getting in his glory years. ‘White Noise’ doesn’t do much to give his career any bouncebackability but it is a start. The character of Jonathan is very one-dimensional and Keaton doesn’t have much to do other than look at the TV and play with some equipment. He does do his best with what he is given but he can’t work miracles. Deborah Unger also has very little to do as fellow EVP investigator and the same can be said about Chandra West as Anna.

‘White Noise’ is a good try for Hollywood as it tries to get up to the horror standard set by Asian cinema but the film just doesn’t have the plot or backstory elements in place to reach those types of scares. You need to invest in the characters to become involved with them and this really doesn’t do enough to draw you in. With a lack of background on the ‘three spirits’ we never get to know their true motivations and this limits any terror that can be induced, therefore cutting down on the scares, which is the most important part of any horror movie. Lets hope Hollywood can go on from here and produce a really good scary movie of their own.



Jamie Kelwick

White Noise is a tense supernatural thriller that centers on the concept of EVP. Electronic Voice Phenomenon is a process in which the dead communicate with the living through electronic devices and home appliances. This phenomenon has grown aggressively in the past few years, with research continuing to be conducted and numerous websites dedicated to EVP. The concept is creepy and a viable notion for a thriller film, but White Noise eventually becomes lost due to an ample amount of cluttered interjections.

Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) is a successful and very happy architect, who is the father of a young son (Nicholas Elia) and married to a renowned author named Anna (Chandra West). Just as Jonathan and his wife learn that they will soon be parents, Anna mysteriously disappears. After weeks of searching and the notions of her being dead, Jonathan is approached by stranger named Raymond Price (Ian McNeice) who tells him that Anna is in fact dead and is trying to contact him through EVP. In denial at first, Jonathan becomes curious and reconnects with Raymond in an act of desperation. After the EVP guru Raymond plays a recording of his wife’s voice, Jonathan accepts her death, but gets hooked on the whole concept of EVP. Filling his home with immense electronic equipment, Jonathan spends hours after hours hoping to find Anna through the static of numerous television screens and digital sound equipment. After finally coming into contact with her, she begins giving her husband clues to go on rescue missions in attempts to save certain individuals. The film then turns on its hyper mode and runs out of eerie moments to where Anna and others from the other side begin to reveal themselves.

British television veteran director Geoffrey Sax makes his directorial debut with White Noise from a screenplay by Niall Johnson. Though the concept is something that holds interest of exposure, the film is crammed by one dunce subplot after another. The film mirrors some elements from better films of a different nature, such as Frequency and The Ring. However, do not jump to the conclusion that White Noise is a copycat film. The film’s concept is appealing; it is just not executed to its potential. Sax takes so long to setup the film and the EVP, that in fact the film is at times boring, even though the director initiates a few effective jump out moments to wake one up every once and awhile. The final act just becomes corny, with spirits showing themselves and characters miraculously surviving crazy odds all in a mildly twisted climax. Sax does a solid job with creating tense and scary moments that the film maintains one’s interest and anticipation, but the final payoff is disappointing. EVP is a central component and character to this film, but it is really just contradicted at times to attempt connection of all the film’s dots, rather than totally exposing its central phenomenon.

Michael Keaton returns in his first starring role in quite sometime, and is stirring as the uncomfortable Jonathan. Keaton’s presence gives this film a lift and hopefully he will not stay away from making films quite as long next time. Deborah Kara Unger arises as a fellow EVP obsession that communicates with her dead loved one and Ian McNeice is suitable in his role as the explanatory character of EVP to the audience.

White Noise has some thrills and for sure there are times when you will jump. The film becomes clogged with too many ideas spiraling out of control throughout the second half of the film. This film would have perhaps been more effective as a true psychological thriller with some supernatural elements, rather than evolving into a ghost-horror film that attempts to leave a lasting impression.

Bailey Henderson

 

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