Welcome back for another installment of Disc Dive! This week is another movie that I have seen once before, shortly after it hit video stores. I picked up a blu-ray copy of it as part of a sale awhile back and figured that this is as good a time as any to crack it open. Do not adjust your TV sets, this week it is completely normal to hear some…White Noise (2005).
Title: White Noise
Director: Geoffrey Sax
Released: January 7, 2005 (Theatrical – Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
Disc format: Blu-ray
Jonathan (Michael Keaton) just learned that his second wife, Anna (Chandra West) is expecting. Unfortunately though, the happiness is short-lived as Anna goes missing the very next day. As time passes without any signs of Anna, Jonathan refuses to give up looking for her.
One day, he approaches a man on a bench that he also recently saw outside his home. The man, Raymond (Ian McNeice), explains to Jonathan that his son recently passed away but he’s received messages from him. Though it isn’t just his son, Raymond claims to receive communications from all sorts of spirits via a process known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP).
So how does EVP work?
People that have passed on are still able to communicate with the living by sending short messages through the static and white noise of electronic devices. These messages are often singular words or short phrases. Occasionally, a face may present itself through the static images on a screen.
Understandably so, Jonathan is initially skeptical of what Raymond has to say. Especially since Raymond claims to have received a message from Anna, thus confirming that she is dead.
Though Jonathan does eventually warm up to the idea of EVP. So much so, that he decides to look into how it all works.
This begins Jonathan’s slow downward spiral. He becomes obsessed with trying to receive a message from Anna. In doing so, he accidentally stumbles upon messages from voices that appear to be sinister.
Will Jonathan find closure with Anna before completely descending into madness?
Prior to this rewatch of White Noise (2005), all I remembered about it was that it had a pretty cool premise and it had Michael Keaton.
Well, as it turns out, the premise and Michael Keaton are pretty much the only bright spots.
Is EVP real? Who am I to say? But it is a pretty cool idea to build a plot around.
Well, except for when you forget to answer some basic questions such as:
Is anyone able to just turn on a tv/radio and hear voices?
Are there certain stations/frequencies that work best?
In her message to Raymond, did Anna give her whole life story before then telling him where to find Jonathan?
While this is by no means a “great” performance from Michael Keaton, he does the best with what he’s given. It is an underdeveloped character who, ultimately, spends his days staring and yelling at screens hoping to get a message. In a role that sounds more suited for unhinged Nic Cage, Keaton manages to keep you just engaged enough to stick with it.
By no means would I say that White Noise (2005) is a “bad” movie.
Instead I’d say that it is frustrating and slightly disappointing. A movie that would have been head-and-shoulders better with a stronger script.
Have you seen White Noise (2005)?
If so, leave a comment below or reach out on Bluesky and let me hear your thoughts on it!
As always, you can follow me over on Letterboxd to keep up with everything else that I’ve been watching lately.