White Noise

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A not-bad ghost story that marks a comeback of sorts for its star, Michael Keaton, who hasn't top-billed a movie for almost a decade.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Geoffrey Sax, a British television director making his theatrical debut, lavishes enough craft on the paranormal thriller to send more than a few chills down the spine.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

There's nothing at all scary about White Noise, which goes bump in the night so often it's easy to mistake it for clumsy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Beneath its regrettably banal surface, White Noise raises the creepy question of whether intimidating, even malign forces may be lurking in those fancy gadgets that fill our living rooms and offices.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Has a low-key tone that works in its favor for a time.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

But Keaton is a mistake. He's an actor with an innate sense of irony firmly grounded in the here and now. Even as Batman, skepticism was his forte; true belief falls way outside his range.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Does feature one or two jump-out-of-your-skin moments.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Boring and fundamentally silly.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

What might have been a rote horror exercise becomes instead a twitchy, mannered, often amusing rote horror exercise.

Variety Joe Leydon

An unsatisfying supernatural thriller with an effectively unsettling build-up and a frustratingly muddled pay-off.

Village Voice Ed Park

White Noise vigorously pushes the supernatural line throughout, but unfortunately its final movement is so incoherent that the whole thing collapses.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

It's a testament to Michael Keaton's fine lead performance that White Noise doesn't come off as laughably preposterous.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Increasingly preposterous, thoroughly credibility-straining escapades.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Isn’t very effective as a thriller.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It's yet another warm, fuzzy, New-Age tale that cozies us into believing the grave doesn't mean oblivion.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The unhappy dead populate Geoffrey Sax's third-rate thriller White Noise like a pre-Christmas crowd at a suburban mall. This is a shame, since they are neither scary nor sad, and less likely to haunt an audience than simply bore them to death.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

In White Noise, Hollywood and Michael Keaton try to make a decent thriller out of ghosts in the machine but come up with lousy reception and static.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A film worthy neither of Mr. Keaton's talents nor even a desperate horror fan's attention.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The movie straitjackets Keaton into a humorless, table-pounding role.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Hampered by Niall Johnson's script, which is often confusing, muddy and ultimately cliche-ridden.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

There's not much more to this poorly scripted thriller than exactly one well-done shock moment and Michael Keaton's eyebrows, but, to be fair, Keaton's brows have carried three Tim Burton films nearly on their own, so don't let this dissuade you from seeing the film.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not credited)

Muddled and boring.

USA Today Claudia Puig

White Noise is the celluloid equivalent of a bad cell phone connection.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Poor Keaton, a capable actor who was absent from the screen for several years, is hamstrung by the material even more than in last year's dismal "First Daughter."

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It is a grim and monotonous affair despite the overkill of bad guys -- a trio of evil spirits plus a bonus serial killer -- mixed with a few cheap shocks futilely intended to make the audience jump.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Dramatically, it's a ghoul's parade of grieving folk finding solace and then danger through a tenuous connection to the after-life.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

A clumsy, dreadfully preposterous and pedestrian thriller that seems to believe loud noises are the same as good frights.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

White Noise has nothing. You'll have a better time staying home, tuning your TV to a station that doesn't carry a local signal, and staring.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

A rather boring horror film.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

"Sixth Sense" rip-off.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

No, this isn't an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s great 1985 novel, but a muddled talking-ghosts movie.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A moronic exercise in supernatural claptrap.