Pulse (2005)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Disregard any issues you may have for Asian genre-cinema ie Ju-On or Ringu. This creepfest along with A Tale of Two Sisters and Audition, is one of those flicks that just make the hair stand up on your neck.Pulse is incredibly creepy, bleak, and dreadful. The best way to watch is just you and the screen you're watching it on. Turn off the cell and turn off the lights because Pulse jumped right into areas of fear that I had never experienced. I had to pause the film and turn the light on for a moment because it was just THAT UNSETTLING. No "boos" or loud thumps. Visual and auditory discomfort and confusion left me dizzied and delighted. I am happy to find films that scare me. It just comes to show that with a little research you can find a film that can do the same; with or without critical praise.

A group of young people in Tokyo begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing co-workers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website which asks the compelling question, "Do you want to meet a ghost?" Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa spent years working in the world of "pink" films and direct-to-video movies. He was at this time best known in the west for "Cure" (1997), though it was "Pulse" that would make him an international sensation. Assisting him is cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi, known for two other J-horror modern classics, "Ring" and "Dark Water"."Pulse" was released at the right time for American audiences to latch on to. The American version of "The Ring" came out in 2002, and sparked a wider interest in Japanese horror, kicking off a wave of remakes. This also helped get the originals a wider distribution in the States -- "Pulse" being among those, as well as "Audition" and many of the Takashi Miike films that had previously been very niche.Kurosawa uses this film not just to tell a good ghost story, but to explore "the horror of isolation" in a world of increased inter-connectivity. With its dreary, depressing color palette and empty space, we find this story about the Internet to truly be about loneliness. Whether intentional or not, it is a clever social commentary that may be more true today (2017) than it was at the time.Some early reviews were critical because the film is heavier on style than substance and the narrative is not completely coherent. But since then, praise has only grown. In 2012, Jaime Christley of Slant magazine listed the film as one of the greatest of all time. In the early 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. "Pulse" placed at number 65 on their top 100 list.The Arrow Video Blu-ray is a fine package and a great excuse to re-visit this film. Contents include (but are not limited to) new interviews with writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (at an astounding 43 minutes!), actor Show Aikawa and cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi (24 minutes); "The Horror of Isolation", a new video appreciation featuring Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett; an archive 'making of' documentary, plus four archive behind-the-scenes featurettes.

I have to say upfront, that you need to be open for the pace of these kind of films and the almost completely different arrangement in story telling. Things that you'd normally expect happening, are left open here. Other stuff is being dragged on for an almost unbearable amount of time. Yet, it is almost within reason and I had a blast watching this. It is as eerie as a movie can be, giving discomfort in almost every scene. I only took away one star due to the fact that it is really long and some stuff, even regarding this kind of way of narrating, seems obsolete.

I can totally see why Pulse bores the hell out of some people! It moves at a very slow pace, and if ghost stories do nothing for you then you'll most certainly nod off. Also, if you're like my family and you demand an ugly decapitation every ten minutes, then you aren't going to be wanting to watch this. However, ghost films do do it for me. I find them extremely creepy and Pulse proves itself to be one of the creepiest I've seen. It all comes down to what scares you. I rarely get scared. The last film to properly scare me was Noroi: The Curse, however a couple of scenes in Pulse scared the Jesus out of me! I have just two words... Wobbly ghost.To me Noroi: The Curse is a masterclass in how to scare your audience. It filled me with fear, and its ending is a real gut-puncher. Whilst Pulse doesn't quite make itself quite as scary (nor as good) as Noroi, it is still one of the creepiest films I've seen in a long time. It's pretty essential that you watch this on your own, in the dark, with the sound turned up (there's some great use of sound and music) in order to get the full chilling experience. The wobbly ghost scene is one of the scariest things I've seen in my life! I can't explain it, but it gave me chills and I had to look away! Something about the movement was so unnatural and unnerving, I was thinking that I was going to be in for one hell of a ride! Unfortunately however, because this scene happens reasonably early on, there is only one other scene that almost matches its sheer scariness.Don't get me wrong, Pulse features a string of supremely creepy scenes. It's unlike anything I've seen before in the ghost department as its slow pace builds up a wonderfully eerie atmosphere (I can't see the American remake being any where near as masterful as this!) and some scenes are full of choking suspense, such as when the man first gets contact from the website. My only problem with the film is that it lacked character development, and I would've liked to have gotten to know the characters better. Also, the plot sometimes doesn't make much sense (I don't understand the majority of the third act) and the characters have strange reactions e.g. A woman see someone committing suicide but then it's never mentioned again. The whole apocalyptic element is also not fully explained, however I admired its ambition.But Pulse is really about its creepy atmosphere and that's what it succeeds in doing. It's the type of film that places its disturbing images under your brain and stays there. I never get scared, and it's refreshing to actually feel terrified at what I'm watching. I didn't find Pulse boring, although some scenes did drag it was never boring. I just found it a little confusing. Nevertheless, Pulse is one of the best ghost films I've seen. It relies on its stupendous atmosphere and seriously creepy moments. One scene towards the end, nearly scared me as much as the wobbly ghost! Pulse has the ability to send shivers down your spine and have your hair stand on end, which certainly makes it something special in my eyes! However, I was slightly disappointed that that terrifying face on the poster wasn't in it!