10 Best Michael Keaton Performances
7. Jonathan Rivers
White Noise has a somewhat unfair score online, with a mere 7% of audiences saying that they enjoyed it. It was released in January of 2005 and was a box office success, changing the mood of film studios who had previously seen January as something of a rubbish heap for horror.
The film is high concept and Keaton is on excellent form as Jonathan Rivers, a grieving widower who discovers that his wife's death may not have been a natural one. He meets with a psychic who claims to hear voices from beyond via electronic voice phenomena - effectively via the titular white noise on radios/televisions.
There are genuine chills in this film, with an emotion heart running through it. There are shades of other, better films (the demons are more than a nod to Ghost) but there is enough of a story to justify the film's existence.
While the sequel was generally a poor retread of the first film, Keaton gives his all in this. He is more than believable as the man who gets dragged into this situation, then stays there once he sees the good that it is bringing. He finds himself able to save lives, hearing advance warning via EVP, though this brings him to a climactic third act.
It is a film that deserves a better reputation that it currently holds, a proper chiller for a night in the dark.