Pulse (1 Viewer)

[Dave Hackman]

Do you want to see a ghost?

Not if it’s going to be another shimmering unnatural moving piece of crap like what’s presented in this film I don’t.

This message is what appears on the student’s computer screen right before bad things start happening

A couple of college students start getting weird emails and video clips from the dead as they become targeted one by one for the one thing they have and the dead don’t, life.

Supposedly one of the students hacks into some dude’s computer which was infested with dead people who were able to come through newly discovered frequencies. The only thing that stops them is dead signal zones and red tape.

I really hated this movie and can’t believe it got the green light to be played nationwide.

F

 

[Justin_S]

Doesn't surprise me to hear this one sucks. Hollywood can't adapt Asian horror for shit, so they should stop trying to. There was no way they were going to better Kaïro anyway.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'll take the negative reviews with a grain of salt, i've liked the Hollywood remakes of the past couple of Japanese horror films, if this one is as good as The Ring and The Grudge, it'll work for me.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Ahh, too bad. I wish Kristen Bell's first major lead role was better. Some good has come of it, though. It prompted me to look up the Joey Lawrence film, and I see it's available on DVD in widescreen!

 

[ChrisBEA]

I liked this movie. The apocalypse goes low scale and hi-fi.

 

[Chad R]

The Japanese film started with a creepy tone it just couldn't sustain, ultimately getting dull and a little confusing, resorting to the staple of Japanese horror: the contortionist ghost. It would take a lot of work to improve on it, i.e. make it a watchable movie. But, I don't think a good movie could ever be made out of this premise.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Saw it last night. KB did a great job with a very limited role... and I'm really looking forward to seeing her in more films.

The rest of the cast had nothing to do. Felt like the typical DimensionFilms-CUT AND PASTE horror film structure they've been doing for years. Film 3 scripts for the same movie and then glue scenes together to make some kind of a coherent film. The same fate as CURSED, another film that could have been amazing. Very disappointed. I think almost every film they make goes through massive reshoots... and then they get nervous and take bits and pieces from all of them to try to make it work. Doesn't usually make for a great film.

I liked the basic idea of abandoning technology... and I liked what it had to say about text messaging and e-mails (but having the voice over was a little much... most people could have figured it out on their own).

PS... What happened to Ron Rifkin? He was just there to be there apparently. The scares weren't that great (the audience was screaming, but this was in NY Times Square... and it consisted of mostly 7-12 year old kids screaming just for the hell of it. When the dancing ghost appears to their one friend and slowly moves toward him... the audience wouldn't stop screaming... and it felt more like the audience making a picture scary, not the other way around. *Like if you ran up to a friend and just screamed in their face for fifteen minutes they'd eventually get freaked out*.

Also, what the heck was wrong with their college? Talk about ugly ass interiors. I realize they were trying to set a mood, but I seriously doubt a college campus would have a bathroom that looks like it was the back-up set for SAW.

Typical poor horror film. Dark lighting and atmosphere instead of real horror. Remember when horror films could be scary and look like any other film? What happened to that!? If Ghostbusters can have a creepy opening in a library that looks pretty damn normal... why can't any other movie?

1/2 (****)

Half a star... out of four. :frowning:

 

[RyanAn]

Saw it today, the movie was not scary at all. Although if you had asked any of the 13 year old girls in the theatre, it "Like was the best movie ever!"

There are only two moments that had me a back:

someone pulls a gun on two characters. Not a "ghost" - but a human.

and also

When the window of the truck is shatered and they hesitate, and the ghost comes in.

I don't see how it was scary, it was ridden with seemingly unentional campiness.

It's PG-13 but is written by Wes Craven. He has shown he can make PG-13 work before, if only he had directed it.

Robert - you are completely right. What is with the locations? No college I know with such incredibly lab equipment would let their campuses be so run down.

ry

 

[Patrick Sun]

Pretty horrible movie where the "scares" elicited laughter from my audience. Avoid. Go see "The Descent" instead.

I give it 1 star, or a grade of D.

 

[seanOhara]

I disagree -- Kairo is one of the best movies of this Century so far. It's the horror movie Stanley Kubrick should've made: brooding existential terror about the nature of human relationships and the possibility that death is worse than we can imagine.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Saw this today and I must say, it was pretty horrible.

The basic plot element of the ghosts entering our world, were not interesting enough to carry the weight of the films overly ambitious finale. I simply didn't care about these characters and the ending seemed like they were going for a Romero-esque apocolypse, only with ghosts taking over the world instead of zombies, it didn't work for me.

I hope that Kristen Bell get's a better role next time out, this one's a misfire IMO.

 

[Mike~Sileck]

Just got back from the theater

Got the same feeling regarding Romero -- but it doesn't work with the ghosts....



Anyways, so I was thinking about it, okay so all of the "dead" people come back to take "life" from the living people. Eventually, they run out of living people to take their lives, so a lot of the "dead" ghosts can't find life? And what kind of a life is it anyways? They were ghosts in the beginning and ghosts at the end? Whats the point?

Also, without any humans, how could the ghosts continue to survive? If the humans in the dead zones went back to the cities in a year, would it be safe?



Granted, maybe I'm looking way too far into it, but I guess thats because I was thinking so hard cause the movie couldn't keep my attention.



I think the only cool thing in this movie was the guy's fish tank that was backlit by his screensaver. (look for it!!) I actually stopped viewing the film to try and see how he did it exactly so I could try a similar set up.

Overall, on the same level as Silent Hill. Just stupid, and didn't make a lot of sense.

Save your 10 bux.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I should also clearify that I did enjoy Kristen in this film as she did a good acting job, it's just too bad that everything else around her was so bad.

She definitely has formidable acting chops, as is demonstrated weekly on Veronica Mars.

 

[Matt Stone]

From what I've read in interviews, the finished product had very little of Craven's original draft in it. He worked on the project for a year or so, but after his relationship soured with Dimension (Cursed), he left the movie.

 

[JoeStemme]

The original Japanese production is Thoughtful AND Creepy. Two words not used in tandem to describe many recent domestic Horror films. One of the key secrets to the Asian Horror boom is that the films and the filmmakers take their subject seriously. Japanese Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa here delves into the very meaning of life and death.

The early section is slow and somewhat meandering is setting up the situation. Still, once the situation is set up and the events go into motion it's a very creepy ride, fueled in large measure by the serious tone and even thoughtful discussion of WHY the ghosts are here, and what the meaning our lives today are. These ghosts are clearly symbolic. They force the "living" to examine their own lives. A world in which it is easier to communicate via a computer than it is with a co-worker in the same living, breathing workspace. As the film progresses it becomes more and more ambitious. AI and social media have only deepened the subtext of this fine chiller with sci-fi overtones.

Not surprisingly, an American Remake came and went (it has an 11% RT score)


The original PULSE is currently available to stream on Prime Video, Hoopla, Tubi and for rental.