White Noise (the first) scared me more than just about any other movie I've seen. It was early afternoon in August in Chicago and I was wrapped in a blanket and shivering. That's what I call a successful horror movie! White Noise 2 also left me extremely satisfied, but in a different way. Unlike with many unplanned sequels in which producers try to recapture what made the first movie make money and then just replicate it, this one took the premise of the first movie and take it to the next logical step (development!). In White Noise 1, Michael Keaton's character starts getting messages from the dead through static on TV and radio (hence the name white noise); in White Noise 2, Nathan Fillion's character has a near-death experience and becomes a receiver for white noise transmissions himself. The tie between the first and second movies in this series is very tenuous. You could easily watch the second without seeing the first (I don't think I've ever made that suggestion before), and you wouldn't even know it was a sequel if the title didn't include the number 2. The white noise plot point only leads into what is really going on in this film, which is that Fillion can now see auras around people to indicate that they will soon fall victim to murder or an accident (the title could as easily be Aura as White Noise 2). I really liked the exploration of his new ability and ramifications of it, kind of how The Butterfly Effect explored the various effects of changing your past.I consistently enjoy movies by Joss Whedon, so I've sort of been trained to like seeing Nathan Fillion on screen (Firefly television series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), and I think he did a great job in this film (on par with Firefly, better than Dr. Horrible, though DH was more of a fun romp than a chance to stretch his acting muscles). Before the Green Lantern movie was made, there was a fan-trailer made with the common dream-casting of Fillion as Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds was cast in the actual GL film), and while I recognized some of the clips from Firefly, others also looked good but I could not identify them... it turns out they were from this film. White Noise 2 seemed more of a thriller than a horror flick to me, though it does have some spooky ghost jump-scares throughout. I don't want to give away too many particulars because pretty much everything he finds out is a cool revelation and part of the experience of watching it, but if you're a fan of supernatural thrillers, Nathan Fillion, ghost jump-scares, or even we'll say superhero stories... this movie is worth renting. As of the writing of this review the film is unfortunately no longer available on Netflix instant.
I once shared an english muffin with a man who was a PA on this film. He said filming was a largley positive experience, but the presence of Bruce Campbell was missed by all on the set.
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