Keaton loses his wife tragically, is approached by a psychic who claims he's getting messages from her through the static on broadcast equipment. At first skeptical, Keaton eventually becomes obsessed, only to learn there's some down sides to the whole "Electronic Voice Phenomenon" experience.
It's an interesting premise for a horror film. Keaton is excellent, playing a nice, normal guy slowly going off the rails very convincingly. There are a couple of effective jolts and scares, especially in the middle part of the movie.
There are two main problems with the movie. One is the climax, which is absolutely horrendous, bringing in a serial killer and involving other characters in the movie in an absolutely unbelievable, contrived kind of way.
The other is that the movie tries to be serious and sober-minded about it's subject matter, which is admirable, but it's serious only in tone, not content. So we have a lengthy set up to ease us into the horror, which is a good idea -- but we also apparently are in a world where nobody thinks psychics con them. There are efforts to plug obvious plot holes, which is good, but we still have Keaton behaving like every other horror movie fruitcake, Abandoning the Woman Whom He's Sworn to Protect; Delving Into Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; Going Into The Spooky Place Alone.
In other words, the movie's not really serious -- it doesn't really want to investigate this idea intelligently. It's using "seriousness" as a pose, much as another might use "ironic". And that's a real problem, because just as you're being lulled into thinking this is something different and special, you get bumped up against some stunning stupidity that ruins the mood. Then just when you adjust to the cheesiness, we go back to seriousness again, which ruins *that* mood. And so on.
The blame I think has to go with the director, who after all controls the vibe of the movie. It's kind of depressing -- I think there's a good movie in here somewhere. Better hands might have brought it out.
It's an interesting premise for a horror film. Keaton is excellent, playing a nice, normal guy slowly going off the rails very convincingly. There are a couple of effective jolts and scares, especially in the middle part of the movie.
There are two main problems with the movie. One is the climax, which is absolutely horrendous, bringing in a serial killer and involving other characters in the movie in an absolutely unbelievable, contrived kind of way.
The other is that the movie tries to be serious and sober-minded about it's subject matter, which is admirable, but it's serious only in tone, not content. So we have a lengthy set up to ease us into the horror, which is a good idea -- but we also apparently are in a world where nobody thinks psychics con them. There are efforts to plug obvious plot holes, which is good, but we still have Keaton behaving like every other horror movie fruitcake, Abandoning the Woman Whom He's Sworn to Protect; Delving Into Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; Going Into The Spooky Place Alone.
In other words, the movie's not really serious -- it doesn't really want to investigate this idea intelligently. It's using "seriousness" as a pose, much as another might use "ironic". And that's a real problem, because just as you're being lulled into thinking this is something different and special, you get bumped up against some stunning stupidity that ruins the mood. Then just when you adjust to the cheesiness, we go back to seriousness again, which ruins *that* mood. And so on.
The blame I think has to go with the director, who after all controls the vibe of the movie. It's kind of depressing -- I think there's a good movie in here somewhere. Better hands might have brought it out.