White Noise (2005)

An architect's desire to speak with his wife from beyond the grave, becomes an obsession with supernatural repercussions.

Director:

Geoffrey Sax

Writer:

Niall Johnson

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Deborah Kara Unger, Ian McNeice

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Keaton	...	Jonathan Rivers
Chandra West	...	Anna Rivers
Deborah Kara Unger	...	Sarah Tate
Ian McNeice	...	Raymond Price
Sarah Strange	...	Jane
Nicholas Elia	...	Mike Rivers
Mike Dopud	...	Detective Smits
Marsha Regis	...	Police Woman
Brad Sihvon	...	Minister
Mitchell Kosterman	...	Work Man
L. Harvey Gold	...	Business Man
Amber Rothwell	...	Susie Tomlinson
Suzanne Ristic	...	Mary Freeman
Keegan Connor Tracy	...	Mirabelle Keegan
Miranda Frigon	...	Carol Black - Car Crash Woman

Storyline

The car of successful author Anna Rivers is found disabled next to the river, the thought being that she accidentally fell into the river while trying to change a flat tire. Her dead body is found upstream several weeks later, consistent with the accidental death theory. Based on incidents around him, her grieving husband, architect Jonathan Rivers, decides several months later to visit with Raymond Price, who approached John prior to Anna's body being found with news that she was trying to contact him from beyond. At that time, John was skeptical of Raymond's claims of electronic voice phenomena (EVP): that he is contacted from the beyond through electronic means - radio, television - which he is able to record. Along with Sarah Tate, another of Raymond's "clients" whose fiancé passed away, John becomes obsessed with EVP as he gets more and more audio and video messages, however fuzzy, from Anna from beyond. That obsession takes a slight change in focus when John believes that Anna ...

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Plot Keywords:

river | obsession | architect | voice | grave | 

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Taglines:

TV, radio, even telephone... new door of the spirits

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia] UIP [France]

Country:

UK Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Voces del más allá

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$61,569 (South Africa) (29 April 2005)

Gross:

$158,714 (South Africa) (29 April 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Gold Circle Films, White Noise UK Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The recording used in the trailer that is attributed to Stanley Searles ("I love you.") is thought to be the "ghostly" voice of Searles himself, a former politician who died in 2002. The recording was said to have been made by Searles' daughter, a well-known EVP researcher named Karen Mossey.

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Goofs

When Anna is carrying the bags of groceries on the videotape, the box of cereal is open.

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Quotes

Jonathan Rivers: Order me a bouquet of flowers, lilies. And some champagne, no, chocolates, a big box, those Belgian kind. Know what I mean? What? What are you looking at now?
John's Secretary: Something's up. Something's really up.
Jonathan Rivers: Would you just...
John's Secretary: I'm going, I'm going. But I know something's up.

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Crazy Credits

Static is heard in the background of the Gold Circle Films logo.

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Connections

Referenced in Hearing Is Believing: Actual EVP Sessions (2005)

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Soundtracks

Somewhere Out There
Written by Duncan Coutts, Michael Maida and Jeremy Taggart
Performed by Our Lady Peace
Courtesy of Sony Entertainment (Canada) Inc.

User Reviews

Chilling and effective.

White Noise is a film that takes a true scientific phenomenon, and makes a film out of it. The phenomenon is one which involves electronic recording/broadcast equipment. In amongst white-noise (that crackle and hiss you get on a blank recording) and static on untuned TV reception there are voices and images discernible. Sometimes these voices have been clear enough to work out, and many people believe they are the voices and images of those who have died, trying to contact the living.

In the film, Michael Keaton plays Jonathan Rivers, an estate agent who loses his wife. When he is approached by Raymond, a man who lost his son years ago and claims he has heard from Jonathan's wife, it draws him into the phenomenon, and pretty soon he becomes obsessed, recording his own tapes and viewing/listening to them for messages. Then, suddenly, the messages become clear, and seem to be premonitions. Can he decipher the meaning of the messages, or will he disturb something best left alone? I was uncertain going into the film what to expect. Too many times the film world have come up with a great concept, but failed to deliver anything more than mediocre when it is a horror subject. Expecting another Godsend, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty good film, with some nice touches, and chills. Admittedly the story wouldn't look out of place on X-Files, but unlike the recent The Forgotten, it manages to feel complete, and doesn't seem to take the easy option at the end.

The direction by Sax (best know for his TV work such as Tipping the Velvet, Dr Who, Clocking Off, and Spitting Image to name a few) is more than sufficient, and he uses the white-noise to great effect. A little buzz here, and flicker there all serve to unnerve, and you could be forgiven for thinking you are watching another Japanese adaptation. There are a lot of similarities to eastern horror throughout, the use of silence the unnerve, the distorted images in the TV sets, and so on. Only the occasion "music to let you know you should jump" lets down the tone.

Nevertheless, with a well woven script which doesn't pander to the lowest denominator, and a sterling performance from Michael Keaton, who hasn't really had a presence on the screen since 1998s Jack Frost, make this an enjoyable little movie which deserves a viewing or two.