White Noise - The Light (DVD)

The original White Noise was a terrible film that was based on an interesting subject, that of voices of the dead reaching out to the living via static on TV and radio, even when there was no actual show on. White Noise 2: The Light is a straight to DVD rip off that somehow made it to the cinema big screens, probably on the strength of the title and nothing else (though the recent sequels to Hollow Man and I Know What You Did Last Summer were unable to secure the same privilege)

White Noise 2 has very little to do with the original movie it takes it name from, in fact so little that you wonder if it was named after it was made in an attempt to gain more coverage and publicity based on it being a sequel. It certainly is a way to gain instant press coverage and viewer recognition.
White Noise 2, while taking a pinch of White Noise, the original, bears a lot more in common with the Final Destination trilogy. The major theme of death and escaping your intended demise is very similar.

The story of White Noise 2 is that of Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion, Firefly & Slither), a devoted husband and father whose wife and child are shot down in front of him for no apparent reason. The killer then puts the gun beneath his chin and pulls the trigger (leading to the low budget error of the body lying on the floor with no hole in the head!)

Depressed and lonely he takes an overdose of pills and dies himself… for 4 minutes, before being brought back to life on a hospital table. From that moment on he is able to see a bright light that only seems to surround people in the final moments before they die, much like the one he saw as he lay dying on a hospital gurney.
Once he discovers this he decides to use this ability to save the people he knows are about to die, among them a young nurse Sherry (Katee Sackhoff, Battlestar Galactica), and thereby find a reason and meaning for his survival and his family’s death.
At the same time he also wants to find out more about the man who ruined his life… though what he uncovers may end up being far more unsettling then he could ever believe.

White Noise 2: The Light is nothing special but at the same time is certainly a lot more watchable than it’s predecessor. There is no po faced seriousness about it at all, it is all very B-movie-ish. It does nothing new at all, borrowing very heavily from Final Destination for the skin of the plot, but does it well enough not to be totally awful like a lot of recent low grade horror/thrillers have been. In fact it is a lot of fun when it really shouldn’t be.
In many ways it is a shame that the only way they could get this made/released is by associating it with a previous, crap, film. I’m assuming that is the case as the film really has little connection to White Noise in anything but an almost throwaway scene.

In fact White Noise 2: The Light is a film that may actually build up more of a following after release as people suddenly realise that it is actually a great Friday night movie. Oh of course it is never going to be a classic but I went to see this not expecting that much at all and came out of the cinema impressed and having enjoyed a good 90 minutes odd entertainment.

A lot of this is to do with Fillion (the main reason I went to see it) he has a great B-movie style to him (could he become the new Bruce Campbell?), an ability to find himself in a ludicrous storyline but still manage to treat it with complete seriousness and a sense of humour at the same time. I have a lot of time for him and will certainly watch him in anything he is in. While the part of Abe isn’t up to the quality of the sheriff in Slither Abe is a man you feel for. You feel his despair and then jump for joy with him as he finds a way out of his depression through the white light. Fillion is what makes this more than just an average movie. I have this feeling many an actor would have crossed over a line and taken the character to far into the comedy side.

Katee Sackhoff is a real find though, she looks great (which helps!) but she also comes across as a real person. The chemistry between her and Fillion is a very big plus to the story. It makes you get more involved in it and accepting of the more supernatural sides to what is going on.

As a final note there are a couple of really cute little touches that brought a grin to my face. First off there was the viewing of Frankenstein on TV, a nice correlation with the returning to life of Abe in the hospital and then there is the sight of a little girl in a red coat running around and hiding near the end. Nothing much to do with the story but it just has to be a nice little homage to the classic ‘Don’t Look Now’.

If you have avoided this film because of its connection to White
Noise think again, if you like b-movie style horror thrillers this is a thoroughly entertaining piece of film. Don’t expect brilliance from it, just expected to be entertained by it just like you should be from this type of movie, something filmmakers seem to forget more often than not these days.