Have you ever woken up and been freaked out by the static on your television? Maybe you were even convinced it was talking to you? Well, if you have you are probably crazy, but, for the sake of conversation, lets say you have experienced EVP.
EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomenon, is the phenomenon where the dead can supposedly communicate messages to us through recorded TV or radio signals. EVP is also the basis for the new Universal Pictures film White Noise.
Jonathon Rivers (Michael Keaton) is a successful architect whose life is crushed when his pregnant wife Anna (Chandra West) mysteriously disappears. He then becomes obsessed with EVP, as he is convinced his dead wife is trying to communicate with him from the grave.
The problem is, EVP is like a window through which good and bad spirits can communicate, and while trying to connect with his wife he may also be contacting bad spirits and getting more than he bargained for.
Sounds like an interesting premise, huh? The problem is the phenomenon is a whole lot more interesting than the movie.
Instead of basing the film on the phenomenon, the film is based upon the tragic loss of a man’s wife and his struggle to get back in touch with her. Because of this, the film struggles and never realizes its potential.
In addition, the film takes some bizarre twists and turns, has some completely random events, and has a number of loose ends which are never satisfactorily wrapped up.
However, White Noise does manage to keep your attention by giving you a few good scares. The eerie effect of static television with hidden images and creepy sounding voices does scare very well.
I imagine this movie will be much more effective on a television screen. This is probably the best medium to view the movie, besides the fact that it is definitely not worth paying to see in the theatre.
