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The appeal of something like EVP lies, paradoxically, in its promise that the world is both more orderly and less mechanical than we expect; concepts like EVP suggest that all the apparently random and meaningless sights and sounds that surround us are actually full of personality and intentionality, while at the same time, they introduce an element of unpredictability to what we might have thought were boring and predictable natural laws. The quest for glimpses of personhood within the static of the airwaves is really not that far removed from the search for personhood in the world of matter, here and now.

Concepts like EVP also play on our knowledge that there are, indeed, some forces that are invisible. If we can believe in electronic transmissions and radio waves even though we do not see them directly, then of course, this film says, it is possible to believe in a spiritual realm, too. Christians can affirm such thinking to a point, even as we express caution around the merging of science and spirituality, and the way such ideas can expose us to spiritual elements that are not clearly from God.

Directed by Geoffrey Sax, here making his first feature film after a lifetime of TV work, from a script by Niall Johnson, White Noise is not an especially stylish film. It doesn't have the wall-to-wall gothic look or feel that most ghost stories seem to have, and it doesn't seem to have the creative and symbolically significant color scheme of, say, The Sixth Sense. In addition, some of its filmic devices seem a little hokey for a movie that is apparently trying to persuade us that EVP is a real phenomenon. But the film is quite successful as a fright machine in its own right, and, in its search for spiritual realities beyond this life, it may even be useful as a theological conversation piece—and that has to count for something.

Talk About It

1. Raymond says, "I don't contact the dead. The dead contact me." Do you think he is being honest when he says this? Why do you think he keeps all his electronic equipment open to signals from the spirit world? Is there a moral difference between initiating contact and merely receiving it?
   
   
2. If the spirits of the dead do contact us, what should we do? The Catholic and Orthodox traditions include stories of saints appearing to people after they died, and Protestant Bible translator J.B. Phillips even claimed to have been visited by the spirit of C. S. Lewis. What do you make of stories like these?
   
   
3. Why do you think people might look to machines to make contact with the dead? Does an air of "science" make the spiritual world more acceptable to the modern mind?

The Family Corner

White Noise is rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and language. It's a scary film all about ghosts and spirits, some of them harmful, so parents might not want their children to see this film unless they are prepared to discuss it afterwards.

Photos © Copyright Universal Pictures

If the spooky theories that inspired the premise for White Noise have any credibility, you may soon be able to pay extra to pick up voices of the dead on your satellite dish. Sounds hokey—but apparently this new thriller, starring Michael Keaton (Batman, Jackie Brown) as an architect whose wife disappears, is convincing enough to keep the viewers biting their nails and jumping out of their seats.

According to religious press critics, it might also be enough to provoke some meaningful discussion about life after death.

"If White Noise were just another earnest independent film pushing bad science and bad spirituality on its audience—like What the Bleep Do We Know?—it would be a numbing bore," writes Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies). "But the film has its surprises. For one thing, it is genuinely scary, and one of the most chilling, frightening flicks I've seen in years. For another, it ends on a note that is not as rah-rah for the supernatural as you might expect. In its search for spiritual realities beyond this life, it may even be useful as a theological conversation piece—and that has to count for something."

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