Following the death of his wife Sara (Tara Buck), Richard (John Mese) is a father who emotionally struggles following the passing of his wife. He is then placed in a situation where he has to take care of his daughter Emmy, who is autistic and non-verbal. She was scheduled to start a new program prior to her mother’s passing that involved some unorthodox methods. Richard is not made aware that the house that is in question is in fact haunted. Only details of the treatment can be located inside the house.
Richard’s reality begins to shatter into pieces after his wife dies. Struggling to cope, he turns to alcohol and drugs for solace. He tries to come to terms with Emmy but has no patience, skills, or empathy to be of help. As Richard deals with personal demons, his marriage woes constantly sickens him further. Each time he opens a bottle, visions of his wife reveal themselves. It sickens him to no end but there’s a part of him relieved that she’s finally come to help him. But as Richard tries to make sense of it all, he begins to wonder if the spirit next to him is really his wife, or something more sinister.
With no patience to see the movie’s lead motivate in the dark, it’s still hard to ignore the distinct lack of Robert Downey Jr. ‘twang’ in it. That said, let us be thankful that the “sick” middle part of the film is CGI-free and trust the fact that it’s McCollum’s skillful debut feature are put into where each one of these “sicks” movies doesn’t fit together. This is also the reason cinematics work so cleanly, and put together, without bungling everything into an apathetic “spook” prologue like other films of the genre tend to do. It gives the audience just enough of them’s focused on dose of us spooky. What grabs the viewer’s attention is that NOISE IN THE MIDDLE has a monotonic sound but heavy exposition so the thrill of excitement does drop but punctures the viewer’s expectations and leaves you with a feeling of pity.
Richard, as described above, is said to be emotionally deficient. Rather, it would be more appropriate to say that he is ‘stupid’. It seems everyone is giving him help, from Emmy’s therapists helping her with her autism to shop owner Albert (Tom Konkle) who brings Richard up to speed with his daughter’s supersensory gifts and the dark history of the house he and Emmy live in.
When so many people are offering Richard sound strategies to help him and Emmy, and he continues to treat his child-like dirt, the experience quickly turns into torture. Richard’s treatment of his daughter is cruel and distressing and even if it’s exasperated by his emotional negligence, the fact that some people simply don’t comprehend how to navigate parenting a child with autism is more than sad. Admittedly, in NOISE IN THE MIDDLE, there was a moment around an hour in when it appeared as though Richard was going to figure it all out, but, sadly, he did not.
The film will exclusively premiere on the premium AVOD Horror Channel, Kings of Horror on October 29th. A live stream chat with the filmmakers and some cast members will be featured. The film will remain on the platform for 6 weeks before launching onto multiple digital platforms on December 11th.
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