White_Noise

White Noise

Thoughts:

Afterthoughts:

My first thought when I saw this movie listed on IMDB's Coming Attractions was, "Isn't this coming out a few months too late?" Isn't it some sort of cosmic rule that scary movies are supposed to be released around Halloween and not two weeks after Christmas? Maybe it's just me.

It's good to see Michael Keaton is still around. I haven't seen him in anything really good since Batman, so this could be a treat. Speaking of the Dark Knight, Christian Bale has some seriously HUGE shoes to fill from this man. [sarcasm] No, George Cloony and Val Kilmer never played Batman! What nut would cast those guys? Pfft. [/sarcasm]

This looks like it has boo-moments galore in it, so I'd better go to the bathroom before entering the theater. I've heard about this EVP stuff from various websites and books (the Mysteries of the Unknown books, anyone?), so I know there's instances of this kind of creepy stuff happening since man figured out how to hit the record button. It also seems a little far-fetched to me., but that's half the fun of supernatural thrillers. You sit in your cushy seat, popcorn in yor lap and mega-sized soda in the cup-holder, thoroughly convinced that none of this scary crap could EVER happen to you. Walking out the door afterwards...you're not so sure.

Well, I was right about one thing. There were lots of boo-moments.

It's a half mystery, half supernatural thriller about the downfall of a man through his obsession. It's a little creepier than stamp collecting or football, but it's still the same beast.

The key that it's missing is the link between the main character and the audience. Michael Keaton's character is supposed to be an architect, not too far off from an engineer like myself. Sensible, logical, and (in some cases) open-minded. I can go along with this guy going to the EVP guy's house and listening for his wife's voice on the recordings. I can even buy him coming back for more. What I can't buy in to is him buying tens of thousands of dollars of audio/video equipment and doing it himself . The EVP guy was gruesomely murdered and a psychic who was telling him stuff no one else could have completely freaks out and gives him a very serious warning. Then he finds out that every corpse he encounters on the videos was once ensconced in a chair at the EVP guy's house playing with EVP. Any logical person would have gone, "Hmm...maybe I should back off of this." You can argue that he was grieving and his logic took a backseat to his anguish. Okay, maybe, but the murder of your sort-of-mentor should sober you up pretty damn quick.

This guys was also seriously lacking some common sense. The two times he went in to life-threatening situations, he didn't call his police buddy for back-up. The first time, I can overlook it. He didn't really know if he would find anything at the intersection from the EVP video, so why bother the police and once he got there, he didn't have time to call. Okay. Fine. Go him. There is no reason you can give me that he shouldn't have called the police the minute he hit the sidewalk in front of his apartment after figuring out where the missing woman was.

Also, why were the cops never at his door, asking if he was involved in all these murders and tragic accidents? The cops won't buy that right-place-right-time excuse for very long. Don't get me wrong. It was very refreshing to see the guy involved in spooky stuff not having to use one hand to ward off the ghosts and the other to fend off the cops, but no one even ASKED in the first place! That detective was either incompetent or oblivious, which is almost scarier than the premise of the movie.

My Advice:

Rent this one with Scanners and The Watcher in the Woods for some cheesy, creepy, fun around Halloween. Then, pop in The Exorcist if you really want to get scared.