Pulse (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
by Jim Sonzero
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christina Milian, Ian Somerhalder, Jonathan Tucker, Kristen Bell, Rick GonzalezDirector: Jim Sonzero
Brand: Genius
Producer: Anant Singh
Producer: Bob Weinstein
Producer: Brian Cox
Producer: Harvey Weinstein
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Ray Wright
Writer: Wes Craven
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2006-12-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-12-05
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 79595
Studio: Weinstein Company
Movie Reviews of Pulse (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Do you want to see a ghost?
Summary: 5 Stars
Now, THIS is a scary film! I didn't have high hopes for this one, thinking that it wouldn't live up to the Japanese version it remakes. But I was pleasantly surprised to find Pulse a vastly entertaining horror flick; it contains taut pacing, a dense, ominous atmosphere, and a spookily rendered unveiling of its horror elements. I relished its against-all-odds, apocalyptic flavor. The premise, that of malevolent ghosts accessing the real world via our rapidly advancing communications technology, is an update (upgrade?) on the that age-old plot of spirits affecting us from beyond the grave. And when done with panache, great energy and earnest concerted effort by cast and crew - like in Pulse - it's a thing of horrific beauty.
Pulse is the remake of the Japanese horror movie Kairo, directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Charisma, and Bright Future). Kurosawa is known for eschewing obvious, traditional shock values and opting instead for an introspective, somewhat withdrawn, and unsettling style which seeps into the head and burrows under the skin. His favorite themes have to do with disaffection, the immersion or loss of identity, and how society ultimately affects us as individuals. Pulse, the American version, of course, dumbs it down enough for the mass consumers and somewhat reduces Kurosawa's film into a less contemplative but still exhilaratingly frightening boo-fest. Having said that, Wes Craven, who is credited with the American adaptation, does find sequences in the film to insert several searing images to reiterate Kurosawa's thoughtful conceits. Interspered throughout the horror are quick touches on the themes of desolation, alienation, our over-dependence on machines, and the individual loss of identity thru submergence in technology. Viewers of Kairo will, I believe, find this version rewarding and entertaining, even if, ultimately, it's from a common denominator level.
This film echoes The Ring in the depiction of its pale, grainy, pixel-challenged apparitions, and The Terminator in its apocalyptic, end-of-the-world tone. From the opening shot, Pulse is in "boo" mode and consistently stays so for the entire film. The scares come fast and often, and while most of the set-ups are seen a mile away, the payoffs are nevertheless big and unnerving. I agree that the laundry room scene and the ghost car attack are damned intense. There's a scene involving a friend breaking into Josh's apartment and also a bathtub scene that I thought were pretty spooky.
The actors are laudable. The star is obviously Kristen Bell (she of Veronica Mars fame), who plays Mattie; and she nicely carries the film. Her supporting cast also does a good job of keeping it down to earth, yet, when the scene calls for it, is able to reveal stark fear, without going over the top. Christina Milian as Mattie's best bud Izzy is endearing and sexy hot in her low hung jeans. Jonathan Tucker as the tortured Josh is particularly effective in his eerieness. The always reliable Ron Rifkin (Alias) has a small appearance as Mattie's psychologist. Ian Somerhalder, in my eyes, is decent as the stubbled Dexter.
This is an excellent movie to take your buddies and is even a better date movie (I guarantee arms will be grabbed and crushed in vise-like grips many times, if you're into that). A friend of mine, in the midst of screening Pulse, started wondering about the ghosts' motivations and raison d'etre ("so they suck your life out, and then what?"). I slapped him on the head with a popcorn bucket. When a movie is this terrifyingly entertaining, you can forgive it a lapse or two, no? Four and a half stars.
Summary of Pulse (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Electronic devices serve as gateways for a terrifying evil that can?t be turned off.Pulse provides clear evidence that by the summer of 2006, the cycle of American remakes of Japanese horror films had reached its inevitable downturn. After peaking with the Ring and scoring a marginal success with The Grudge, the cycle was almost guaranteed to sink to the low-point of this unnecessary and mostly lackluster remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 shocker. It benefits from a standard upgrade in CGI effects and doom-laden "bleak-chic" atmosphere, but it's almost completely devoid of suspense as a group of college students led by Mattie (played by Kristin Bell, TV's Veronica Mars) investigate the suicide of Mattie's boyfriend and discover a kind of wi-fi conduit that allows malevolent spirits to be transmitted from their afterlife to our world via the Internet ? think of it as kind of a broadband connection from hell, if you will. Pretty soon it's obvious that Pulse is trying (as Kurosawa's original film before it) to serve as cautionary tale about how we've allowed our lives to become numbed and devalued by using technologies (computers, cell-phones, PDAs, etc.) that keep us all connected at the expense of personal intimacy. Many of the creepiest images from the original Pulse are carried over here, and director Jim Sonzero does his best to keep the cautionary themes intact, but at some point (and after a great deal of pre-release tinkering to fit the obligatory PG-13 rating for the lucrative teen market) you have to ask yourself: why bother? --Jeff Shannon
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