White Noise 2

Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion, Firefly, Serenity) is a happy man. He has a lovely wife, a great son, his own business, and it's his ninth wedding anniversary. Everything is going great.

Then, he and his family are eating in a dinner when his wife, Rebecca (Kendall Cross) and son Danny (Joshua Ballard) suddenly come over strange. My first impression was insipient stroke.

But before what ever this phenomena is can run its course, a stranger, pulls a gun and shoots both of them dead. Stunned into immobility, Abe watches in horror as the man points the gun at him, then says "I'm so sorry." and puts the gun in his own mouth, and pulls the trigger.

Bereft, alone, grieving with no answers to give him any comfort, Abe gives into despair, and commits suicide. Fortunately for him, he left his note on his answering machine, and since he used pills instead of a gun, his friend Marty (Adrian Holmes) is able to call the paramedics.

Abe dies, and is moving into the tunnel of light to join Becky and Danny, but is resuscitated on the table. When he comes to, Dr. Karros (William McDonald) has many questions for him and what is really freaky, knows many of the answers before Abe can tell him. Dr. Karros is an expert on Near Death Experiences, and the effects they have on people. For instance, Abe perceives an aura around the good doctor. He is told it will fade in time.

Dr. Karros' research includes other phenomena, including White Noise, the theory that detuned electronics can pick up impressions or ghosts. They discover that Abe has an inhuman ability to spot the phenomena, normally only visible in the freeze frame, but Abe can see it with the naked eye. Karros is very excited, and they are going to explore the phenomena in depth.

Here is where I start having a problem with this movie. Abe is released. I am sorry, but when you commit suicide, that is not what happens. You are held for psychiatric observation, and you may face criminal charges. They do not just turn you loose.

That aside, he is looking forward to getting some answers with Dr. Karros. Perhaps this ability will allow him to communicate with his family. But Dr. Karros dies, and the one soul who understood what he was going through is gone.

Worse, evidence suggests that the white aura he sees around people may mean they are in danger of dieing.

But Abe puts his ability to good use. First, he sees a man under a jacked up van. He tries to tell the old curmudgeon to get out, and is insulted for his efforts. But Abe is not deterred; he yanks the old geezer out from under the van seconds before it is crashed into by a drunk driver. As the man says, "You saved my life."

The next person he saves, the next day, is a young man accosted by a group of jerks. His intervention saves him from being dropped off an over pass. He notices the incidents are all heralded by electronic phenomena, mobile static waves, flickering lights. He is also seeing the spirits of the dead.

Now the question becomes, is he insane? Much of the evidence says yes, but he is greatly comforted by his ability to spot people in mortal danger. That much at least proves there is a real phenomena at work.

The third person he saves is his nurse, Sherry Clark (Katee Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica). She is almost kidnapped by a guy in a mask in the hospital parking garage. (No security?) Abe is her valiant rescuer, and as she patches up his wounds, she makes it clear she is interested in him.

She too has lost a spouse. Almost five years for her, and to honor him, she wears his ring around her neck, and still holds his annual recital for his music class. She has some idea what he is going through, and wants to help.

But then things turn sour. The old gentleman that he saved from being crushed under his van drives that same van into a crowd of people at a bus stop. No explanation is given for his behavior.

He also discovers that the man who shot his wife and son is still alive. He survived the gunshot wound to his head. Abe goes to visit his family.

Julia Caine, (Teryl Rothery, Stargate SG1) is a lovely woman, very sorry for what her husband has done. It seemed he had had a Near Death Experience, and it had changed him. He had become obsessed with White Noise phenomena, and later, scriptural references. Julia allows Abe to see her husbands study so he can try to get some answers that may give him peace.

What they give him is a whole new set of worries. It seems that Henry Caine (Craig Fairbrass) also saved a group of people, led to them by Electromagnetic Phenomena, and the White Aura. And in each case, three days later, they went psychotic and killed a large group of people. Abe also learned that Henry Caine had saved his wife and son from a fatal traffic accident, three days before he shot them.

He had found a doctrine in the church called Tria Mera, or the Third Day. The devil could possess people spared from death three days after the event, and cause them to kill; just as Christ rose from the dead after three days, so does the devil rise up in the should be dead after three days.

(Here is another problem I have with the movie. Tria Mera means Three Day, not Third Day. That is Trita Mera. Trita Mera adds up to 666, Tria Mera adds up to 557, the number of Dyspeptic Civil Servants.

Now Abe is faced with some hard choices.

The Analysis

First, let me say that those people who have accused me of having rented this movie solely because it stars Nathan Fillion have obviously seen the Trash episode of Firefly. While Nathan is never sans clothing in this film, he still turns in a brilliant performance. Further, I really enjoyed watching Katee Sackhoff acting like a girl instead of the very butch Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica. The dynamic of horny widow versus caring nurse with a damaged patient is rather interesting, and she did it well.

The overall tone of the movie, of people and events being swept along by forces outside of their control is very powerful. This is what makes Abe's position so horrifying, for a few brief days, he thinks he has a power that can help people. He thinks he has a measure of control. Then he realizes that it is a trap, a trap to force him to make even more horrifying choices.

This is not a Classic, but it is a damn enjoyable little horror movie. It has a good premise, a great cast, and manages to elicit a feeling of helpless dread as Abe is swept towards his inevitable conclusion. I recommend this movie if you are a fan of horror. It gets the job done.