White Noise is a 2005 supernatural horror thriller film directed by Geoffrey Sax and starring Michael Keaton. The title refers to electronic voice phenomena (EVP), where voices, which some believe to be from the "other side", can be heard on audio recordings. The film did very well at the box office despite generally poor reviews from both critics and audiences. The commercial success of White Noise led Universal and other studios to realize that there was an untapped audience for horror films released in January, and began releasing higher-quality horror films during that period, usually dismissed as the winter dump months of the film calendar. Plot Jonathan Rivers is an architect and lives with his wife Anna until her unexpected death. Eventually, he is contacted by Raymond Price, whose son has also died. He says he has recorded messages from Anna through electronic voice phenomena (EVP). While Jonathan is initially dismissive and angered, he later learns about his wife's tragic drowning. Desperate, he begins to believe that the recorded voice is indeed that of his wife, and becomes obsessed with trying to contact her himself. He is warned by a psychic that, while she takes measures to avoid hostile entities, EVP is an indiscriminate process that offers no such safeguards. A woman named Sarah Tate, who also came to Raymond for his EVP work because she lost her fiancé, befriends Jonathan. Raymond is found dead. Jonathan begins to be followed by three demons attracted by his obsession with EVP, and finds that some of the messages he receives are from people who are not yet dead, but may soon be. Jonathan hears cries from a woman whom he finds in a car with a child. He is able to save the child, but not the woman. At that woman's funeral, which Jonathan and Sarah both attend, Jonathan approaches the husband and tells him about what happened. The latter thanks Jonathan for saving his son but then demands to be left alone. Afterwards, Jonathan sees images of another person, a missing woman named Mary Freeman, while working with his EVP devices. Sarah is later seriously injured by a fall from a balcony while possessed by the demons, an incident which was foreshadowed by Sarah's image being among those on the EVP devices. Jonathan locates the site of his wife's death by following signs on recordings and he also finds his wife's