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# ‘White Noise’ will make you jump out of theater
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/white-noise-will-make-you-jump-out-of-theater/
- Published: 2005-01-07T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:57:38.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

This dopey horror flick from Brit TV director Geoffrey Sax deals in the dubious conceit known as Electronic Voice Phenomenon, which suggests that dead people communicate with the living via the static commonly encountered with cell phones and cable-deprived TVs. Fifteen minutes into the picture I found myself imagining what might have been had someone, say, the late Rod Serling, cut in on Sax’s calls and given him a bit of advice on how to make an entertaining sci-fi thriller. Alas, “White Noise” never crosses over into the quirky, good fun that was “The Twilight Zone” … a “No Stopping” zone is more like it. And speaking of stiffs using sound and image to contact us, it’s time to accept the very real possibility that the talented Michael Keaton might never resurrect his once-vital career. From “Jack Frost” to “First Daughter” to this? Sheesh! Where have you gone, Johnny Dangerously?

Keaton muffs up mightily here as Jonathan Rivers, a seemingly rational man who, in the wake of his young wife’s death, becomes convinced he’s receiving dispatches from her from the Other Side. Skepticism be damned, a deranged Rivers immediately establishes a formidable electronics communication center in his home and begins receiving a host of com-muniqués from all manner of unearthly beings. Ala “The Ring,” some of the more demonic wraiths take shape in bands of white noise, spooking Rivers whenever his oversized forehead gets too close to the monitors. And sure, there are a few moments that’ll make you jump — none more so than the one when the final credits begin to roll and it’s time to get the heck outta the theater. (Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and language.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 7, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010705.pdf?ref=smdp.com)