White Noise

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: Michael Keaton's character loses his wife in an accident. A man contacts him saying that he's been receiving messages from Keaton's wife via EVP (electronic voice phenomenon). Keaton becomes desperately obsessed with making contact with his wife and, in doing so, ends up becoming too involved in the spirit-world and accidentally calling up some really bad spirit-guys.

Scariness factor: The notion of EVP is a spooky one, so there were quite a few creepy moments. I jumped in my seat once or twice. But I think most of the scariness comes from the thought of this being REAL. There are probably more flagging moments that lack the luster of the scarier moments in this movement scattered throughout. But it is most certainly creepy in parts, despite the main character being Mr. Mom. And despite the fact that Michael Keaton runs too goofy for his own good.

Originality: The plot was predictable as you walk through it--you can pretty much see every move the movie will make for the most part. However, I don't think there's been a horror flick that's dealt with the notion of EVP yet, so in that respect, it definitely is a bit wealthy in the originality department.

Complaints: Michael Keaton. And the running. Also, the lack of logic in some parts can be a bit aggravating--and the lack of explanation behind certain scenes. I'd go into these more here, but I don't wanna give too much of the plot twists away. The Hollywood slickness of the movie is a bit aggravating at times too, both plotwise and filming-wise. No grit and gristle like, say, TCSM or something. Also, the CGI in the climactic scenes of the movie is TERRIBLE. I thought they were going to avoid "outting" the bad guys and instead leave them vague and up to the imagination throughout--the bad guy specters appear only as three shadowed figures until the end--but then they ruined it in the end with ridiculously fake looking computer graphics. Bah!

High Points: Mostly just the scenes where the EVP moments take place. Many of these are quite jolting. And the bad guys are rather creeps until the very end. Also, the dvd has a couple good extras on it that look into EVP more. In one of them, two EVP-ers go into two haunted buildings and contact the dead. The results are revealed. The other extra talks about the EVP societies that are in existence and gives many many real-life "examples" and recordings of actual EVP moments.

Overall: I've definitely seen a lot better. But then again, I've actually seen a lot worse.

Grade: C