Not even Nathan Fillion could save White Noise 2. This straight-to-DVD sequel has a ridiculous story and awful writing. Plus, it kept treating the audience like they were a bunch of idiots. There are a few cool stunts and some creepy imagery, but it's mostly just a waste of time.

It would be fair to say that I wasn't expecting much from this Canadian straight-to-video follow-up to the 2005 Michael Keaton film. PG-13 horror fare isn't really my cup of tea, and I reasoned that the first film covered the subject in sufficient depth to negate the need for a sequel. I was wrong, and how so! Despite a few missteps, WHITE NOISE 2 is actually a wonderful little film that manages to better the one that came before.This time around, TV actor Nathan Fillion is the guy who undergoes a near-death experience and comes out with the ability to see, not just ghosts, but electrical surges on TV sets as well – the so-called 'EVP' or 'white noise' phenomenon. This doesn't actually have a great deal to do with the actual plot, which is all about the protagonist's abilities to see eerie auras on those about to die. Of course, he sets about becoming a hero to save those apparently doomed, until a big twist throws the plot on its head.The film this is most like is UNBREAKABLE. It's cheesier than the Bruce Willis film, with lots of unnecessary grey ghosts and unwanted CGI effects, including the nadir where we see Fillion floating up a CGI tunnel towards, presumably, heaven. A fumbled, unsatisfying ending doesn't really work either. But until then we have a surprisingly taut and suspenseful thriller with lots of unusual and unexpected stuff going on. The direction is strong, with director Patrick Lussier providing atmosphere along with compelling story, and the cast isn't too shabby either. After five minutes, I was expecting Fillion to be a bland, everyman type and indeed he is, but with this type of role he provides a strong focus for the rest of the supernatural antics. Katee Sackhoff is the strong-willed heroine, and good old Craig Fairbrass is the villain of the piece, replete with some quite ghastly prosthetics. There are many decent set-pieces on offer here, from the bridge fight to the car park showdown and the bit in the hotel, and even with a few plot holes and loose ends here and there, I was never not enjoying it. One of those little films that's far better than you could ever expect it to be.

White Noise 2 is a perfect example of how creatively and commercially barren modern Hollywood has become. It's a direct-to-DVD sequel that no one demanded for a movie that very few people watched, and the sequel isn't even about the same stuff as the original.The premise of the original White Noise is that you can capture the voices or images of the dead on electronic recording equipment. White Noise 2 makes a few references to that idea, but it's really about Near Death Experiences, The Devil and predestination. Without checking on it at all, I'd bet money that this was an original screenplay that had some rather unrelated things shoehorned into it so they could pass it off as a sequel. I suppose some studio executive turned down the original script for a big screen movie and then some other executive decided that if they could trick people into thinking it was a legitimate sequel to White Noise, they might be able to get a few DVD rentals out of the folks who saw the first film. Boy, I bet that was a fun meeting for the writer.Anyway, White Noise 2 is about this guy named Abe (Nathan Fillion) who sees his family gunned down in front of his eyes and the killer, named Henry (Craig Fairbrass), shoot himself in the head. Unable to live without his family, Abe tries to commit suicide. He dies, sees a white light and is about to join his family in the afterlife when those meddling doctors bring him back to life. I don't know about you, but if I knew that killing myself would reunite me in Heaven with my wife and child, I'd just keep doing it until I finally got it right. Abe, however, simply gives up on the idea. After his suicide attempt, Abe discovers that he can see an aura around other people when they are going to die. Eventually, he starts using this "super-power" (as his Movie Black Friend calls it) to save people from impending death. One of the people he saves is the cute nurse, Sherri (Katee Sackhoff), who tended to him in the hospital. But Abe finds out that when you interfere with destiny and save people who were supposed to die, even worse things result. Throw in one completely unbelievable revelation and an ending that has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this movie OR anything in the first film, and that's White Noise 2.This isn't a terrible film, especially for a PG-13 scary movie. It does rely too much on sudden flashes of frightening images to startle the audience. That works the first couple of times, but loses its effect really quickly. And like many mediocre scary movies, it has that one, big, fat exposition scene where everything is bluntly explained to the audience, even stuff that was never previously mentioned or had been only vaguely foreshadowed in the story.The acting is okay for this sort of thing, and if this is the sort of thing you're interested in, the plot doesn't insult your intelligence. It is very obvious, though, that all of the stuff in this film that references the first White Noise doesn't have a darn thing to do with what this movie is about. I wonder if the scenes and dialog cut out to make room for the "No, really. This is a sequel to White Noise. I'm being serious, here" nonsense might have made it a better story if left in.If you're in the mood for a PG-13 "horror" movie, White Noise 2 isn't that bad a choice. As I mentioned before, it does have only two markedly stupid moments in it, which is better than usual for the PG-13 "horror" genre. Now, why anyone who wants to be scared would only want to be frightened to the level of PG-13…that's another subject entirely.

Well I'll be honest. The only reason I took interest in this one was because of Nathan Fillion. He's great in everything that he is in. Here, he's playing a different kind of role, but you never get to see that side of him come through. This movie has its moments, and the premise had a lot of potential. However, the actual film didn't measure up. About 1% of this movie is character development, and that sucks because I actually wanted to get to know these characters before the weird events of the movie took place. The other 99% is the director trying to cram this story into an hour and a half long movie. Also, seeing as how this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the original, I really don't see why it's called White Noise 2. I guess they just wanted to get the whole transmission after death thing off the ground quick and weren't interested in a new franchise. At any rate the pacing seems rushed which is a bummer because it could have been cool. I am a big fan of religious fiction movies, and that's what this movie is. Also, it's not really a horror movie. It has scary "jump" scenes, but it's more of a thriller, and it tries too hard at times to scare you when the story line isn't really supposed to be that kind of scary. If they had called the movie something else and if the director had had free reign over the production, I think it could have been good, but we don't really get to see Fillion or any of the actors become their characters. If you get into the story even a little bit, it works just not for very long.