What a shame it is when a potentially captivating and refreshingly low-key story manages to latch onto your interest at the start and then gradually lets you down further and further until you're left scratching your mystified head by the time it reaches its overdone conclusion. Unfortunately, this is what happened to me by the end of WHITE NOISE.

It wasn't Michael Keaton's fault; it was a pleasure to see him return as the star of a brand new movie once again, looking a bit wrinkled perhaps, but still managing to give a strong and sincere performance. As a man whose wife has recently died, he becomes obsessed with her wandering spirit in the afterlife (not a new idea),apparently getting contacted by her through that funky electrical fuzz business you see on your television screen when there's nothing being broadcast.

The idea of spirits communicating via the airwaves is called EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) and there are a lot of people who actually believe in it for real, so I'm not going to make any comments about what I think of that, or them. Let me just say that I'm all for suspension of disbelief when it comes to buying into fantastic films like this, but what I can't tolerate is not understanding what the hell was supposed to be taking place, which is about where I was left stranded when the credits finally began to roll. Much static indeed.

There are occasionally movies like this that have me completely baffled, but if a film fails to make itself clear for me, I tend to consider that to be the fault of the filmmaker, not my own (unless I watched it while I was too tired to focus or something). Well, for WHITE NOISE I was wide awake, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed -- so guess who's to blame?

This modern Hollywood horror thriller tackles the touchy subject of EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon for the uninitiated. EVP is a real-life development in which the voices of the dead are said to be communicated via static – either on a radio, or more commonly a television set (I remember reading a story about a guy living in a caravan who saw his dead dog on the telly!). WHITE NOISE is actually a pretty darn effective chiller which expertly builds a sense of dread thanks to the spooky sequences involving white noise itself – anyone who doesn't get a shudder or two down their spine has to be a dead weight. The film is dark but well shot, with some stark photography; it's got that X-FILES feel to it, but better than THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES.

Michael Keaton, who ain't been up to much lately, is great in the leading role, proving himself to be a believable leading man despite all the supernatural stuff going on around. The female support isn't so memorable, but then this is a film where nobody else really gets a look in. The camera stays close to Keaton's tired, lined face and it works just fine. The other great performance is from Ian McNeice as the kooky guy who initially gets Keaton into the subject; McNeice is one of those actors you see in dozens of movies over the years but are never sure who he is. Well, hopefully this will get him a little more recognition because he's fine.

The suspense and mystery aspects of the story are handled well, with a good atmosphere of mounting dread being conjured up. The weird white noise scare scenes are genuinely jolting, and it's just a shame that the lacklustre ending of the movie – yep, it takes place in an abandoned factory, once again – is so predictable. There are too many surprises and twists in a short space of time, the CGI effects which inevitably have to turn up spoil the whole realism of the thing, and to put it plainly, it's just dumb. Still, for the most part, WHITE NOISE is a frightening spooker which has much in common with modern Japanese horror fare like DARK WATER.

Successful architect Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) is overjoyed when his wife Anna (Chandra West) reveals her pregnancy. Then she disappears. Jonathan confronts Raymond Price (Ian McNeice) who's been following him. Raymond who lost his son tells him about Electronic Voice Phenomenon and that he has received messages from Anna. Her body is found having drowned. Six months later, Jonathan moves into an apartment and strange electronic things continue. He becomes convinced about EVP. He goes to Raymond who is now helping Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger) with her lost fiancé. As he obsessively decipher the electronic signals, he encounters menacing spirits and even those who are not dead quite yet.

Michael Keaton is past his early successes and is yet to gain his resurgent accolades. It's a time period when he was a has-been doing limited work. If nothing else, this movie's success shows that he can still be the lead. I really like the cold static moody atmosphere. I don't think the son is necessary but it's where the story goes that leaves me a bit cold. The spirits are a disappointment. The near-death messages idea is where the movie goes down the wrong path. The moody ghost story turns into a muddled thriller. The spirits' climatic battle is a mess. This movie starts good but ends poorly.