Directed by Geoffrey Sax. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for violence, disturbing images and language.).
Starring:
Michael Keaton …. Jonathan Rivers
Chandra West …. Anna Rivers
Deborah Kara Unger …. Sarah Tate
Ian McNeice …. Raymond Price
White Noise is a film that horror fans are going to desperately want to latch onto and hope against hope that they will be able to praise it when all is said and done so they can exclaim to one and all that finally, the horror genre has something to write home about. When the dust settles off of this first film to get the wide release treatment in the new year, however, horror fans might not be too thrilled. The major critics definitely aren’t. And the Guru is still trying to figure his thoughts out, even as he writes this review.
The film is about Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) an architect who, with his best selling novelist new wife Anna (Chandra West) is incredibly content in life. All is well until one day Anna doesn’t come home. Jonathan maintains hope as the weeks pass, and one day is confronted by Raymond Price (Ian McNeice) who claims that Anna has spoken with him. Jonathan dismisses him and then the police find Anna a short time later. His life falling apart around him, Rivers moves into a new home when strange things begin to happen. He contacts Price, and, sure enough, Price has evidence that Anna is trying to communicate from beyond the grave.
Entitled Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP, those who practice and follow the study believe that the dead try to contact the living through the static on radio and television. Rivers quickly becomes obsessed with EVP and hearing from Anna, and actually sets up an entire room in his apartment with equipment to monitor the signals. Things start to take an unusual turn, however, and Rivers soon realizes that things aren’t exactly what he thought they were.
Michael Keaton is back and it is a shame he was gone so long. He’s brought his talent with him and shines in this movie. He plays the part excellently, and from the very beginning draws the viewer into his role, seeing and feeling things from his perspective. His is a character of deep complexity, who slowly falls deeper and deeper into seclusion from the rest of the world. His performance also makes the viewer ponder whether or not his experiences are legit or mental creations due to his extreme grief.
Well, it would if the script were any better. And of course, given the genre of the film, one knows how that will play out, but the effort on Keaton’s part is there. He deserves high marks for his work in this film, and hopefully will get a better part in the future.
The film starts out strong, no one can argue that. Nor can anyone argue that EVP itself is a very interesting, potentially scary subject to approach. The movie is subtle and curious in its first third or so, and is genuinely creepy. But then, something strange happens. It’s as if those involved in the creation of the movie couldn’t decide what to do or where to go, and the movie feels pasted together. It isn’t scary. Of course, there are some brief jolts, mostly caused by the generic music spike/camera quick cut, but then that’s it. Few of these are even properly explained, at the time or later in the film. The atmosphere disappears, and only briefly comes back; when it does, it lasts even less than the jolts to make sure the viewer is still awake.
The fundamental problem with this, and any other horror film, is lack of creative initiative. In other words, the viewer needs to remain tense and scared in order to remain interested. Passing shadows are only scary for so long, and passing shadows are the main antagonists of this film until the ending. It seems.
That is the other problem. You don’t know what good is, or what bad is, or why things are even happening. Logic is no where to be found in the static television sets, and more than some will be scratching their heads. Is Rivers acting for the good of everyone involved? Is he being manipulated by forces unseen? Is he just plain crazy? Such important, plot driving questions are meant to be wrapped up at the end of the movie, at the latest, but by the time the film reaches its climax, issues are left almost completely unresolved.
Even the ending is problematic: First, it takes absolutely forever to end; second, it makes no sense when the antagonist is revealed (if that was the antagonist – who can be sure?); and third, at the very end of the movie, the last scene serves to openly contradict the one solid plot point the movie teaches the viewer the whole time.
