After revisiting 2005’s White Noise, I’m convinced that nobody actually watched the movie despite how well it performed at the box office. With a measly seven percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the numbers suggest this Michael Keaton flick belongs in the trenches with Eddie Murphy’s The Adventures of Pluto Nash or the notoriously ill-fated McDonald’s commercial masquerading as an E.T. knockoff, Mac and Me.
Now streaming on Netflix, White Noise finally has a chance to be appreciated for what it really is: a sci-fi techno-thriller doubling as a supernatural horror film that bends its frequencies in real time alongside its mystery.
Voices From The Other Side
After his wife Anna (Chandra West) disappears, Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) is desperate for answers, wondering if she’ll ever come back home. Confronted by audio-obsessed Raymond Price (Ian McNeice), Jonathan learns that her disembodied voice is surfacing through white noise, an occurrence known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP). Skeptical at first, his fears are confirmed when Raymond’s theory proves correct and Anna’s death is revealed.
Jonathan becomes consumed with combing through years of Raymond’s tapes, hoping for signs of life in the white noise. Teaming up with Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger), a grieving widow also drawn to EVP, they turn back to Raymond for guidance, only to discover he’s died under suspicious circumstances. Worse yet, they uncover a threatening presence in the static that may be tied to the deaths of their spouses, Raymond, and countless others.
The Warning In The White Noise
By the second act, Jonathan, now missing work and losing track of time, learns that the voices haunting him belong to people who haven’t died yet. Either he’s on the trail of a menacing supernatural entity with precognitive abilities, or he’s losing his mind.
Both possibilities hold water as the film teases out its mystery. Never revealing the source of Jonathan’s torment too soon, White Noise wrings suspense from its technology, forcing the audience to question his sanity at every turn.
An Underrated Sci-Fi Thriller Of Its Era
It’s easy to dunk on White Noise today, knowing what we now know about technology. But Jonathan’s setup still works because the film avoids drowning in junk science. He hears the dead through radio waves. He adjusts levels and panning with dials and faders. He sees something spooky and hits “record.” The film’s efficacy comes from its inherent simplicity.
By keeping the techno-babble light, White Noise feels as close to timeless as it could for its era. It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it’s a solid sci-fi thriller that deserves a second look, especially when you consider its sequel, White Noise: The Light, scored higher with critics despite being the weaker film.
White Noise is streaming now on Netflix.
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