White Noise

Jonathan Rivers, an architect deep in grief over his wife’s death, pursues contact with her through Electronic Voice Phenomenon. What starts as a hopeful experiment quickly spirals into an all consuming fixation, drawing him into a domain where voices from beyond feel tangible and menacing. He confronts unsettling messages and eerie occurrences that blur the line between science and the supernatural. As the pursuit escalates, trust frays and danger tightens its grip on his world, affecting his relationship with the living as well as the very sense of reality. The film builds mood through dread, atmosphere, and a relentless sense of consequence. The tension comes not from loud shocks but from quiet clinical questions about whether what is heard is real and what we owe the living when the dead may be reached.

Directed by Geoffrey Sax with a screenplay by Niall Johnson, White Noise arrived in 2005 as an original concept rather than a direct adaptation. The production blended drama with supernatural dread, anchored by Michael Keaton in a tense, central performance, and a chilling final sequence.

Worldwide box office gross was about 91,196,419 dollars against a 10 million dollar budget, making White Noise a solid commercial return for a mid range supernatural thriller. Its performance exceeded expectations for a mid budget horror release.

The film helped bring electronic voice phenomenon into mainstream thriller conversations, with Keaton's restrained, grief driven portrayal anchoring the mood. Its emphasis on atmosphere over gore left a mark on mid 2000s horror and spurred discussion about the ethical boundaries of paranormal tech.

Critics offered mixed to favorable reviews, praising the film's tense setup and Keaton's performance while noting pacing issues. The movie probes grief and obsession, questions the ethics of contacting the dead, and frames loss as something that can distort perception, memory, and trust.