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
Miranda Frigon	...	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:

supernatural horror | tape over mouth | river | obsession | architect | 

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Taglines:

The line separating the living from the dead has been crossed.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is claimed by adherents of the paranormal, to be of "other-worldly origins", and was not invented by the filmmakers.

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Goofs

(at around 16 mins) When Rivers first encounters Price, Price places his business card atop a circular-shaped thing in the doorway of the building. After a shot of Rivers and Price, the card disappears. Price walks away, we cut back to Rivers and the card reappears on the wall.

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Quotes

Mirabelle Keegan: Okay... Uhh... Uhmm... They are showing me something. It's uhmm... It's Uhh... Willow Avenue. They are showing me Willow Avenue. Yes?
Jonathan Rivers: No.
Mirabelle Keegan: Hmm... Okay. It's no problem. Sometimes it happens. Your wife, she past over recently. Her passing was difficult.
Jonathan Rivers: Yeah.
Mirabelle Keegan: She was Uhm. She's a writer, she was a writer. Yeah, her words are important. Oh... uh... God... I'm sorry. It's just the light... it's just, it's way to bright. It's like these tiny noisy little pinpoints it's hard to see anything at all. Uh......
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The Universal logo seems to shrink in size.

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Connections

Referenced in Gonger II (2010)

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Soundtracks

In My Nursery
Written by Steve Martin
Courtesy of Killer Tracks

User Reviews

good moody turns into a muddle

Successful architect Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) is overjoyed when his wife Anna (Chandra West) reveals her pregnancy. Then she disappears. Jonathan confronts Raymond Price (Ian McNeice) who's been following him. Raymond who lost his son tells him about Electronic Voice Phenomenon and that he has received messages from Anna. Her body is found having drowned. Six months later, Jonathan moves into an apartment and strange electronic things continue. He becomes convinced about EVP. He goes to Raymond who is now helping Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger) with her lost fiancé. As he obsessively decipher the electronic signals, he encounters menacing spirits and even those who are not dead quite yet.

Michael Keaton is past his early successes and is yet to gain his resurgent accolades. It's a time period when he was a has-been doing limited work. If nothing else, this movie's success shows that he can still be the lead. I really like the cold static moody atmosphere. I don't think the son is necessary but it's where the story goes that leaves me a bit cold. The spirits are a disappointment. The near-death messages idea is where the movie goes down the wrong path. The moody ghost story turns into a muddled thriller. The spirits' climatic battle is a mess. This movie starts good but ends poorly.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia] UIP [France]

Country:

UK Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

White Noise

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,113,565, 9 January 2005

Gross USA:

$56,386,759

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$91,196,419

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