Pulse (2006)

Very well executed

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

"Pulse" is a controversial film. On the one hand, it's a fantasy. You watch and understand that anything like that never happened to you. On the other hand, it is impossible not to feel when watching this film that the author was trying to convey to us the idea of the value of our life, which was completely ruined by people's desire for knowledge (which in the end turned out to be nothing more than insurmountable and unknown evil). I would define the genre of this film as a dark futuristic antiutopia (and I mean very near future, 5-10 years or so)... We must remember that life and fellowship is the highest value, and everything else is illusory and ephemeral (short-lived).

The movie has similarities in many things with "One Missed Call" & "Fear dot com". But I need to give it to the movie that when you watch it, you definitely get hooked though you know what the ending will be and you can predict how the whole thing would go. There is no smart plot, the idea has been consumed already and the horror scenes are not scary at all! There are stupid scenes as well like when they try to reach the server at the end to stop the virus, they manage to walk through thousands of ghosts and nothing happens to them! Then she proceeds alone as Dexter fails to follow her and you logically suppose afterwards that he won't make it but miraculously he does! This is just stupid!

This American horror film, shot in Romania, is one of the better movies of it's kind during the last several years. But I seem to be in a minority here as most viewers don't seem to share my opinion. The movie kept me interested all the way through and most of all, I thought it was scary. There's nothing worse than a horror film that doesn't scare you. {Anyone see "Boogeyman" lately?} I've heard the movie was hard to follow. Funny, I had no problem knowing what was going on. The special effects are very creepy. I'd rate this movie higher than "The Grudge" or even "The Ring," which are two other recent movies in this mold that were more popular but much harder to follow and not as scary. The overall look of the film is dark, bleak, and foreboding. But that may have more to do with being filmed in Romainia rather than the filmmakers overt attempt to make it appear that way. Either way, it adds to the creepiness of the movie. Give Pulse a try. It's so much better than what you've heard.

SHOJ!!!!!! Watch the special features and you'll get it. Man this movie is retarded. The ENTIRE FILM with only ONE exception (the scene where the girl talks to the dude outside next to his car) is filmed in some stupid colored lighting. Shows that the DP and director have no real vision for this film and that they just wanted things to look dramatic rather than trying to light it in a way that might highlight the point of the scenes or show any kind of progression for the characters during the film.And dude...all the hands???? Do we REALLY need a GIGANTIC FACE MADE OF HANDS AND ARMS!?!??!!? What is the freaking point? It's retarded. My friends and I watched this as a B-movie. It was hilarious. There's no way I can take this movie seriously. Sure Ms. Bell is a super hottie and all (:D), but a cute girl does not a good movie make! In fact this film has almost nothing to do with the original Japanese film. Yeah the plot is similar and all but the pacing is made super fast...as though an American audience can't sit still and watch the movie or something. The writing on this film is awful (thank you very much Wes Craven), as the characters freak out way more than they need to in order to get the point across. The ending is similar but the original is better in every single way. Let's look at the part where the person jumps from the tower as the main character turns around to see. In the Japanese version the person is climbing up the tower, everything's normal. It's also a STILL single shot. When they finally jump you look over and HOLY CRAP, they just leaped out. In the American version we have to FOCUS on the death rather than the main character. The camera is MUCH MUCH CLOSER to the person and PANS DOWN watching the person as they fall. This focuses more on the dead person rather than the horrifying circumstance of the death as witnessed by the main character. In the Japanese version we watch the person die as someone seeing it on the street by chance. In the American version they FORCE you to focus on the person dying.....which is pointless, and retarded.This is just a SINGLE SCENE where this kind of stupid "remaking attitude" comes into play. The entire film is filled with scenes that are similar to the original but much sillier after being redone. Plus, people seem to not only miss the POINT of these original films but also miss the pacing, the actual way that the drama is handled between the characters and the focus (like I mentioned in the last paragraph) is ALWAYS in the wrong place and always for the wrong reasons. There's even a part near the end of the film where the main guy and girl go into a room where this guy taped everything over with red. Well in the original Japanese version of the film they didn't have to cover the ENTIRE ROOM and light everything to look blood red...because they probably thought it'd be stupid...which it is. Anyway, so there's this guy in there who is freaking out. In the original film there's a similar scene (I think, it's been a while since I've seen it) but in that scene he's upset. He's not certifiable. The guy in this version is CRAZY. He goes on and on and EXPLAINS EVERYTHING having to do with anything...as though the audience didn't realize what was happening and for some reason ALSO lacked the mental capacity to put ANYTHING they've seen throughout the rest of the film together. The entire scene is pointless from a writing standpoint. There's no reason to explain every single thing in a horror film. In fact the mystery is often what keeps the film scary, not like this movie had either of those qualities in the first place. We once again turn to Wes Craven. HOW oh HOW can you fall so far Wes? The original Hills Have Eyes from the 70's is a GREAT movie, and now you're churning out this fecal surprise? Did you have some contractual obligation to work on this for some reason? Man, get some talent back dude, cuz you've lost it all.Sadly it's not just THIS remake that does "get it" either. Too many (pretty much ALL of them from the past few years) miss the point, drop the ball, and go left on Awful Avenue straight into Suck City. There's nothing good I can say about this film except that it's REALLY GOOD..........for a laugh...many laughs actually. And that Kristin Bell is a super hottie. Other than that, it's just too funny.I give this film ZERO stars out of FOUR. And on a B-Movie scale I give this film....oh THREE out of FOUR I guess. It's really quite funny with your buddies, just don't expect anything of quality from it. Why am I still typing anything about this terrible movie? What is wrong with me? Why are you still reading!? Either go watch it, and have a laugh or stay away and don't have a good laugh session.