White Noise DVD Review (Michael Keaton) Empire Movies

WHITE NOISE DVD REVIEW

White Noise
(Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (Canada)/Universal Studios Home Entertainment (US))

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

6/10

7/10

Liam

What the hell ever happened to Michael Keaton? That's always one of the first things I think about whenever I hear his name. I mean, think about it. The guy was one of Hollywood's up and coming stars. He became pretty much the ideal Bruce Wayne/Batman. It seemed as if Keaton had Hollywood by the balls. But then something strange happened. After a couple of Batman movies, Keaton decided to abandon the role and Hollywood grabbed back its balls and gave Keaton a swift boot right between the legs. And let me tell you, he felt it. Keaton received nary a role for the next ten years. I can remember him appearing in Jackie Brown, Multiplicity, The Paper and playing Jack Frost and probably a few others I can't think of right now, but there really wasn't too much more than that. White Noise probably won't be doing much to revive Keaton's rather stagnant movie career.

Now available on DVD, White Noise stars Keaton as Jonathan Rivers, an architect with a seemingly great life, a beautiful wife name Anna (Chandra West) and a son. The son is from another marriage, so I suppose his life hasn't been that great, but things get much worse when Anna is suddenly killed in a car accident. Jonathan is devastated and right when he is in that fragile mourning state, he is approached by a mysterious man (Ian McNeice) who claims Anna has been talking to him from the dead through a phenomena called E.V.P. (Electronic Voice Phenomena). He hears her voice in the white noise created through the static of radios and televisions. Of course, Jonathan finds this to be absurd but strange things start happening and he becomes more and more obsessed with communicating with Anna through the white noise. Little does Jonathan know through his tampering with the paranormal world and trying to decipher her short messages, he has awoken some much more evil spirits who are also pissed off at Keaton for snubbing the Batman role. Just kidding. But these spirits are pissed and they are prepared to lay a world of hurt on Jonathan and anyone else who tries to talk to the dead.

I have to give White Noise credit for one thing. There are a handful of scenes that are sure to send chills through the bodies of most warm-blooded human beings. Mind you, I watched this movie alone at home one night with all the lights off so perhaps that is why it had that effect on me, but it was still pretty damn creepy. But there's always a "but". And this but has to do with the story. I got it, but I didn't get it if that makes any sense. So the guy is talking to his dead wife, she is telling him these cryptic messages about people who are dead or are about to die and then these evil spirits come out of nowhere and start fucking people up. None of this is ever really explained and sometimes that might not be a bad thing but I just found myself wanting more answers from this movie and I never got them. Were the evil spirits pissed about the whole Batman thing? Who the fuck knows because we are never really told. And I suppose we can't always expect to have our hands held and walked through a movie but a little information would have helped this time around. But besides that, the movie has a lot of loose ends and a bunch of characters that we never really get to know enough to decide whether we like or dislike them. Overall, it's a very average movie and that might being a bit generous. I like having the shit nearly scared out of me and for that, I will tip my hat that is not on my head right now but other than that, there's not a whole lot going on here.

As for the extras, well, considering I was sent the movie on a video cassette and the extras on a separate DVD, well, I guess I'll just wing it. There first feature is called "Making Contact: EVP Experts" which basically explains EVP. Then there is "Recording The After Life At Home" which tells you how to record the voices of dead people at home. I tried it and the only voice I could hear was saying "Quit farting so much". Go figure. Next up is "Hearing Is Believing: Actual EVP Sessions" where a couple of actual EVP experts record voices and listen to them. Pretty creepy shit. One of the experts actually gets emotional over the whole thing. These bonus features are pretty interesting and if you are into EVP, dead people or the afterlife, this is definitely for you. Finally, there are some deleted scenes - nothing too memorable here. From what I understand, there is also a commentary on the DVD but I never was given the commentary so I cannot comment on the commentary. I'll guess that it was a couple of people involved in the movie talking about how great the actors were, how hard it was to do the movie and how bad the weather was.

In the end, White Noise is an average movie with a few cheap thrills but a pretty risky ending (and I appreciated seeing that). The DVD, however, does have some interesting extras about Electronic Voice Phenomena and listening to the dead. It is also a great lesson to all aspiring actors about what happens when you snub a Batman movie. You end up in a movie with a bunch of ghosts chasing you around because they are pissed at you.

Features
Making Contact: E.V.P. Experts, Recording the Afterlife at Home, Hearing is Believing: Actual E.V.P. Sessions, Feature Commentary with Director Geoffrey Sax and Michael Keaton, Deleted Scenes

Video
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround

Subtitles
Spanish, English Closed-Captioned

Release Date
May 17, 2005

Rating
PG-13

Length
98 mins.

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