White Noise tries to do something different with the current trend of ghost related films. It’s sort of Poltergeist meets Columbo, but without the raincoat and cigars. Johnathon Price’s life at home is wonderful with his second wife, and with partial custody of his son from a previous marriage, he’s discovered his wife may be pregnant. In jovial mood, he awaits his wife’s return for confirmation, only to find she doesn’t return. Five weeks later the police find her body washed up ashore miles from where her vehicle was found.
Raymond (Ian McNeice) stalks John for a while, until they both confront each other and Raymond informs John that his wife Anna (Chandra West) has tried to contact him from the other side. He implores John to give him a chance, to bring him solace in his moment of despair. After some spooky moments, John decides to visit Raymond where he meets Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), a woman in contact with her dead fiance with Raymond’s help.
After some initial contact with Anna through the use of electronic voice phenonmenon (the recording of sound and video of the spirits via static noise through various electronic equipment), John becomes more dependent upon Raymond for a glimpse of his dead wife. Just as progress begins, John is called by Raymond one night, only to discover Raymond’s place having been forced open and his dead body stacked with his recording equipment.
Not content with ending his hopes of talking to Anna, John decides to buy his own equipment only to discover that the images and voices he hears are not of the dead, but of those that have yet to die through some tragedy. With the help of his dead wife providing clues, John is about to come face to face with how his wife really died, and be tasked with the responsibility of saving those who are not dead yet.
This was a below average film, where the words “is that it?” came to mind after finishing it. The ending leaves much to be desired, but the entire thing feels like Randall & Hopkirk: dead guy is helped by ghost to save the living. A sort of human & ghost detective agency. It’s a little more morbid than that, after all the only people dressed in white are the doctors, but it’s a bit dead (no pun intended) on how to execute such a limited idea.
Consider that with most films of this type, you find people going from place to place, or at least meeting a variety of people. There’s a diversity of sorts, to avoid tedious repetition. White Noise feels like a reality TV show in some respects. You are the audience watching a guy watching another audience of sorts. It’s TV watching TV, and it’s a bit rubbish.
Poltergeist actually had some dynamic, something more than just the television set that was simply used as a vehicle for the several other events and the story itself. White Noise tries something similar, but turns it into an unintenionally comedic thriller. The pace of the film is pretty quick, a 90 minute cheap ghost ride that delivers nothing. It’s nice to see Keaton acting again, though I don’t think he’s actually done any acting for quite some time. The rustiness shows, and he doesn’t convince.
Deborah Kara Unger is average and has never really shone as an actress. Her roles are minor, and for the reason that she could never be good enough for a leading role. Even in a supporting role, her presence is minor, and really that of a damsel in distress providing a sympathetic side story devoid of any reason for sympathy. The entire film is an exercise in sentimentality of the mediocre kind. A loving, caring husband out to help save people with the help of his dead missus is never sold to the viewer with any great conviction.
At one point Keaton’s character tries to apply logic as to why he’s been asked to help those within the area, instead of somewhere like India, where he can make a difference, I wasn’t aware that ghosts were geographically aware and looked at an atlas basing their opinion on where help should be given if at all. At least they’re well read, which is something I suppose.
I’ve seen worse, and this isn’t atrociously bad, but it is certainly on the blacklist of “films to only watch when in the desperate need to watch something after watching everything else”. No on excels, it has a patchy and weak ending, and most of the film bores to the point of sleep. You could probably watching the first 20 minutes and write out most of the plot with accuracy. I think Keaton still has something to offer, I just don’t think this film is the right one to promote that something.
Verdict: A boring exercise in sugar coated tragedy as a ghost story. Weak characters, weak script and another film to dodge