Delayed Reaction: White Noise

The Pitch: You know when you watch TV static for a long time and think you saw something in there*? What if that was a message from the dead?

*Is this one of those things that people under a certain age won't know what I'm talking about? There's still TV static, isn't there?

How I Came Into It: Lately, I've been on an accidental Michael Keaton kick. Apparently, he never went away. I just saw virtually every movie he wasn't in from this perceived fallow period. This looked like a low-fi take on The Ring. The success of this movie had major impacts on release strategies for horror movies going forward. Every January has a horror movie alternative released now and that's because of White Noise.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) The smaller this movie is the better. Toward the beginning, this was solidly spooky. Loved ones communicating from the grave. EVPs are like deja vu: We've all experienced it before and never given it much thought. I may have not liked the movie much, but I went and looked up EVPs right after watching it. That means there's something inherently interesting about the topic.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This is a relative mess. I'm not sure how it gets to turning into white noise as precogs from Minority Report or how the White Noise ends up turning into ghosts. This is a great example of a movie that tries to explain too much. I feel like Michael Keaton got little or no direction in the scenes, because he continually looks like he has no idea how he's supposed to act in a scene or shot.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend