| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
White Noise
Universal // PG-13 // May 17, 2005
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
What is E.V.P.? Well, the definition is Electronic Voice Phenomenon, but even that doesn't tell a person much about what it really is. Boiled down to simple terms, E.V.P. is the result of taking a cassette recorder (or some other such recording device) and getting communications from the spirit realm, which are not audible to the ear when the words or sentences are initially spoken, but are only heard after listening to the device that the event was recorded on. Now the voices that are heard are usually distorted somewhat by background noise, or more specifically White Noise.
White Noise stars Michael Keaton as Jonathan Winters, a man whose life takes a nosedive one fine day when he realizes that his wife Anna, briefly played by Chandra West, disappears and all signs lead towards her being dead from some freak accident.
Soon after Winters' wife is reported missing, he notices a man named Raymond watching his every move, and unlike what was expected this man was not part of a police force looking to take Winters down, but a father who lost his own son years in the past but has been able to communicate with him as well as a host of other people who had died, including Anna.
Winters of course refuses to believe that this man can in fact speak with the dead, and time goes by and he starts to begin the process of healing after the loss. Things then start happening to him that creep him out, such as messages left on his answering machine that are white noise with some nearly intelligible audio on it, and radios randomly turning themselves on. Winters then contacts the man seen earlier in the movie about the E.V.P, and then receives a lesson in the ins and outs of dealing with the speaking dead.
Not all things are meant to be played with however, and soon Raymond falls prey to someone or something that didn't like him dabbling with the voices of the dead. Winters interest in the subject matter was whet just enough to think that he could speak to his wife once more, and he falls face first into obsession with E.V.P.
Not a fantastic movie, White Noise relies far too often on jump scares that are very out of place for a movie such as this. Even during the commentary, the director comments and says "Here's one of the jump scares we did", they didn't enhance my movie experience in this case, it detracted from it. Even with the oddly placed jumps and other items that were meant to shock and keep the viewer interested, I found White Noise to be a fairly boring movie that based on the subject matter could have been much better.
The DVD
How's it Look:
White Noise is has a very nice crisp presentation, and that is a welcome thing for a movie that has a lot of scenes taking place in low light conditions. Because of the low light, the colors are all quite muted and a large number of scenes are lit with the noise on a TV screen or a computer monitor, but it works well for the topic at hand.
The movie is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 presentation, and should look quite nice for those who've managed to secure a widescreen television.
How's it Sound:
Two Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks are included on White Noise, one in English and the other in Spanish. The audio is quite clear and does pack the punch when the unnecessary jump scares are used. The surround usage was actually quite sparse, and really only used to indicate direction, and not for ambient sound effects, and that actually was a distraction because I felt like more ambience would have been nice.
Extras:
The DVD says that included are "Terrifying" deleted scenes, I for one didn't find the terrifying ones, but I did see a collection of scenes that were omitted from the movie, with optional director commentary.
A commentary with director Geoffrey Sax and Michael Keaton is included, although they were not in the same room when recording this commentary, they were watching the movie at the same time and spoke to one another throughout the feature. This experiment in conference calling technology was a success! During the commentary Keaton himself even mentions that he essentially phoned in some a scene, and said to the director "I owe you one", which was a surprising display of honesty on his part. Overall however, the commentary was not overly exciting or informative like some have proven to be.
Three separate featurettes are included that deal with E.V.P.
Hearing is Believing: Actual E.V.P sessions (14 minutes) – follow Tom and Lisa Butler as they visit two locations and try to record E.V.P. and then share their findings with the viewer.
Making Contact: E.V.P Experts (8 minutes) – a short featurette which includes a fair number of actual E.V.P.s and discussions with the Butlers as well as other experts in the field.
Recording E.V.P at Home (4 minutes) – a short how to segment from the Butlers.
Closing:
White Noise had the potential to be something good, with a strong cast lead by Keaton, and a topic that could be interesting enough to make a very fun movie; it disappointed this viewer as well as thousands of other viewers, as proven by the box office when it was theatrically released. As a DVD it does contain some relatively interesting extras in the form of the featurettes, but the commentary is not really worth listening to if you're interested in either E.V.P. or the movie itself. Rent it.
What is E.V.P.? Well, the definition is Electronic Voice Phenomenon, but even that doesn't tell a person much about what it really is. Boiled down to simple terms, E.V.P. is the result of taking a cassette recorder (or some other such recording device) and getting communications from the spirit realm, which are not audible to the ear when the words or sentences are initially spoken, but are only heard after listening to the device that the event was recorded on. Now the voices that are heard are usually distorted somewhat by background noise, or more specifically White Noise.
White Noise stars Michael Keaton as Jonathan Winters, a man whose life takes a nosedive one fine day when he realizes that his wife Anna, briefly played by Chandra West, disappears and all signs lead towards her being dead from some freak accident.
Soon after Winters' wife is reported missing, he notices a man named Raymond watching his every move, and unlike what was expected this man was not part of a police force looking to take Winters down, but a father who lost his own son years in the past but has been able to communicate with him as well as a host of other people who had died, including Anna.
Winters of course refuses to believe that this man can in fact speak with the dead, and time goes by and he starts to begin the process of healing after the loss. Things then start happening to him that creep him out, such as messages left on his answering machine that are white noise with some nearly intelligible audio on it, and radios randomly turning themselves on. Winters then contacts the man seen earlier in the movie about the E.V.P, and then receives a lesson in the ins and outs of dealing with the speaking dead.
Not all things are meant to be played with however, and soon Raymond falls prey to someone or something that didn't like him dabbling with the voices of the dead. Winters interest in the subject matter was whet just enough to think that he could speak to his wife once more, and he falls face first into obsession with E.V.P.
Not a fantastic movie, White Noise relies far too often on jump scares that are very out of place for a movie such as this. Even during the commentary, the director comments and says "Here's one of the jump scares we did", they didn't enhance my movie experience in this case, it detracted from it. Even with the oddly placed jumps and other items that were meant to shock and keep the viewer interested, I found White Noise to be a fairly boring movie that based on the subject matter could have been much better.
The DVD
How's it Look:
White Noise is has a very nice crisp presentation, and that is a welcome thing for a movie that has a lot of scenes taking place in low light conditions. Because of the low light, the colors are all quite muted and a large number of scenes are lit with the noise on a TV screen or a computer monitor, but it works well for the topic at hand.
The movie is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 presentation, and should look quite nice for those who've managed to secure a widescreen television.
How's it Sound:
Two Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks are included on White Noise, one in English and the other in Spanish. The audio is quite clear and does pack the punch when the unnecessary jump scares are used. The surround usage was actually quite sparse, and really only used to indicate direction, and not for ambient sound effects, and that actually was a distraction because I felt like more ambience would have been nice.
Extras:
The DVD says that included are "Terrifying" deleted scenes, I for one didn't find the terrifying ones, but I did see a collection of scenes that were omitted from the movie, with optional director commentary.
A commentary with director Geoffrey Sax and Michael Keaton is included, although they were not in the same room when recording this commentary, they were watching the movie at the same time and spoke to one another throughout the feature. This experiment in conference calling technology was a success! During the commentary Keaton himself even mentions that he essentially phoned in some a scene, and said to the director "I owe you one", which was a surprising display of honesty on his part. Overall however, the commentary was not overly exciting or informative like some have proven to be.
Three separate featurettes are included that deal with E.V.P.
Hearing is Believing: Actual E.V.P sessions (14 minutes) – follow Tom and Lisa Butler as they visit two locations and try to record E.V.P. and then share their findings with the viewer.
Making Contact: E.V.P Experts (8 minutes) – a short featurette which includes a fair number of actual E.V.P.s and discussions with the Butlers as well as other experts in the field.
Recording E.V.P at Home (4 minutes) – a short how to segment from the Butlers.
Closing:
White Noise had the potential to be something good, with a strong cast lead by Keaton, and a topic that could be interesting enough to make a very fun movie; it disappointed this viewer as well as thousands of other viewers, as proven by the box office when it was theatrically released. As a DVD it does contain some relatively interesting extras in the form of the featurettes, but the commentary is not really worth listening to if you're interested in either E.V.P. or the movie itself. Rent it.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||