White Noise 2005

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Tune it out. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: A grim and monotonous affair Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: White noise is intended to help you fall asleep. White Noise would never let you do that, though. It's far too interested in a cacophony of cheap scares. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: The movie itself plays like a message from the dead, a communique from some inert movie world of lifeless cliches, emptily flashy style, wooden characters and moribund plot shtick. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Though I'm well disposed toward elliptical spook stories that depend on the audience's imagination for their jolts and effects, it takes art as well as craft to put them across, and Geoffrey Sax's direction of a Niall Johnson script has neither. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A dreadful, predictable and thoroughly silly thriller that shows how low poor Keaton's star has fallen. Read more

San Francisco Chronicle: Boring horror film. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: White Noise is little more than an old-fashioned ghost story with a newfangled twist. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: You know a ghost story is in trouble when the leading man's wrinkles and scars are more intriguing than any of the on-screen spooks. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: A moronic exercise in supernatural claptrap. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: White Noise begins as an overlit paean to trophy-wifedom and 'lifestyle' living, then practically gets down on its knees and begs to be called 'a stylish thriller.' Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: [A] dullsville chiller. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: A disappointing show. Read more

Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly: In lieu of satisfying answers, we get crude gee-whizzikers scares, cribbed from the horror canon. Read more

Globe and Mail: Around the two-thirds mark, this restless bum had an urge to move considerably farther than the seat's edge. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: [The movie's] intentions are well-meaning but director Geoffrey Sax's execution is so uneven it nulls their impact. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: A muddled talking-ghosts movie. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Despite a few heart-stopping moments generated by a sudden, looming tortured face or burst of thunderous sound, White Noise lacks that certain something essential to any movie intended to frighten, disarm or disorient: plausibility. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The movie delivers little more than cheap shocks and stylized static. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Less likely to haunt an audience than simply bore them to death. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The nominal thriller White Noise is worthy neither of Michael Keaton's talents nor even a desperate horror fan's attention. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Too silly to describe, much less analyze. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Poltergeist (1982) did it first and did it better. But this new stroll through cinematic static is still a sometimes spooky spin on that theme. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: There's no horror to speak of. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Even if its dorky climax throws you out of the mood again, there are staticky bits of White Noise that still manage to cling. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Flawed but enjoyable supernatural thriller. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: When it falters, it does so for the same reason certain otherwise perfectly unnerving recent horror movies have -- because the atmosphere of irrational dread is punctured by the demand for a rational explanation. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: White Noise pretty much describes the content of this lackluster, scare-free story. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: An unsatisfying supernatural thriller with an effectively unsettling build-up and a frustratingly muddled pay-off. Read more

Ed Park, Village Voice: Vigorously pushes the supernatural line throughout, but unfortunately its final movement is so incoherent that the whole thing collapses. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Although director Geoffrey Sax gives White Noise its share of suspense, he's hampered by Niall Johnson's script, which is often confusing, muddy and ultimately cliche-ridden. Read more