WHITE NOISE 2:
THE LIGHT

		Review by E.C.McMullen Jr.
SHOULD YOU? TIP JAR WHITE NOISE MOVIE REVIEW WHITE NOISE: THE LIGHT aka WHITE NOISE 2 - 2007 USA Release: Jan. 8, 2008 Brightlight Pictures / Gold Circle Films / Rogue Pictures Ratings: USA: PG-13

Ah, such a blissful moment. Enjoying a relaxing time in the huge backyard of their white brick mansion, a couple watch their young son play with his toys on the lawn. Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion: DRACULA 2000, SERENITY, SLITHER) smiles at his wife, Rebecca (Kendall Cross: X2, PAYCHECK, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, SNAKES ON A PLANE), as she hands him a gift.

How sweet! What a sweet moment!

Of course, being as this is a Horror Thriller movie, you know that the clock is ticking down damn quick on such an idyll. And in case you aren't accustomed to Horror Thriller movies, the gift turns out to be a watch. Yes, time is REALLY ticking down on this idyll. It starts when Abe goes to give his wife a kiss and suddenly she has a headache.

"Aw come on, baby, it's our anniversary!"

Oh well, they go to get brunch at a local cafe. In walks an intimidating man wearing a long undone raincoat. He enters the cafe and the jukebox music, with a brassy saxophone, plays him in. Women in the song start singing "Good night sweetheart, well it's time to go." And you know that this is the beginning of the bad. The strange man walks through the cafe, looking for his target. He finds Abe and his family, pulls out a gun, and murders Abe's wife and child. Abe stands frozen, thinking he'll be next, when the gunman says, "I'm so sorry." turns the gun on himself, and eats a bullet.

3 months later and Abe can't put his life back together. He spends his days missing his family, staring longingly at their photos, drinking, and asking himself "Why did he leave me behind?"

Then one day, just before Abe commits suicide, he calls his best friend, Marty (Adrian Holmes: VALENTINE, ICE BLUES) and leaves a goodbye on his answering machine.

Abe dies, tunnel of light, sees his family, reunion short-lived, defibrillator pulls him back to the operating room. Marty saved Abe's life.

In his recovery room, Abe meets his bright and sunny nurse, Sherry Clarke (Katee Sackhoff: HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR). This is the start of their relationship. It is also the start of Abe's visions and hearing strange things and this will never go away. A bald bearded guy enters the room (always a good sign), and he has a glowing aura around himself. He says his name is Doctor Karros (William McDonald: SLITHER, HOLLOWMAN II) and tells Abe that he not only died on the operating table, but that he had an NDE (Near Death Experience).

Dr. Karros: "But advanced medical technology brought you back."

Karros then goes on to explain in exact detail Abe's NDE. Amazed, Abe asks how he can possibly know this. Karros says that NDEs are his field of study. Abe tells him that he sees a glowing aura around the doctor and asks if that's normal.

Karros: "Oh I think we're well beyond normal here. But yes. It's normal: A residue of your experience. It will fade over a few days and then it will be gone."

Doctor Karros has a whole advanced computer system to help him track, identify, and otherwise study and discover all he can about NDEs. Karros wants Abe to be his willing test subject and Abe agrees. It will give him something to do.

And this makes sense. If you are going to spend the rest of your life tripping through the Otherworld, its good to know there's a guy like Dr. Karros who can hold your hand through it all. Sort of like your own Admiral Al Calavicci, complete with a Ziggy.

Then Karros dies and Abe's world goes topsy turvy again. Except that this time, Abe KNEW Karros was going to die. He just didn't understand how he knew. The rest of the movie goes on like this, as Abe discovers that his near death experience gave him some kind of special power. Maybe a gift, maybe a curse, but in any case it gives him the ability to know when someone is near death and possibly prevent it.

Written by Matt Venne (Masters of Horror: PELTS) and directed by Patrick Lussier (DRACULA 2000, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D), WHITE NOISE 2 isn't a sequel to WHITE NOISE in any sense of the word. The title is misleading as WHITE NOISE 2 concerns itself chiefly with near death experiences, and anything involving EVP is treated as an extension or afterthought.

Kudos go to Cinematographer, Brian Pearson (I, ROBOT, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, Masters of Horror: PICK ME UP, I AM LEGEND, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D). Shot in a 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, Pearson took full advantage of the wide angle, filling the screen cinematically, instead of within 4.3 TV dimensions.

This is a very good, stand-on-its-own movie, and between this one and the original, WHITE NOISE: THE LIGHT should have been the one released to theaters. For a fact, it was quite a bad move on the part of producer, Shawn Williamson (HOUSE OF THE DEAD, WHITE NOISE, ALONE IN THE DARK, BLOOD RAYNE, POSTAL), to allow Venne's superior script and Lussier's superior movie, to be attached to his low budget WHITE NOISE.

That movie was profitable in theaters because it ran the "This is based on a true..." gimmick and was shown in the garbage dump month of January. The name association could have only hurt this movie. Then again, Shawn has been producing Uwe Bolls for so long I can totally believe that he can't tell a good movie from a bad one. He probably didn't like Lussier's movie. Which can only be good for Lussier, because WHITE NOISE 2 is the movie WHITE NOISE should have been.

Four Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2009 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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