kybearfuzz | No Pulse.. It Be Dead

Cell Phones are conduits of evil in Pulse
After work, I decided to grab a quick matinee of Pulse. I'm a sucker for horror movies and this one had what I thought was a decent premise, but I'm not sure it lived up to the preview.

The plot centers around a computer hacker who has somehow linked his computer via the internet to a world beyond our own. The world is populated with the dead who want something from those who link up to them -- life. The entities start connecting to people from computers and cell phones via WiFi. Slowly, people become infected by these entities and lose their will to live, committing suicide and vanishing. The bereaved girlfriend of the hacker suddenly begins to realize what is happening and hopes to find a way to stop the spread of them.

Everything seems weak in this movie, including the acting and the plot, not to the level of Cabin Fever, so that's some comfort. The film has a weird look, the movie has this eerie greenish tint to it. I've seen this done to photos that have had the red color washed out of it. This may have been very intentional as the "red tape" keeps the ghosts at bay (not a spoiler, it was in the previews). Also, these college students seem to go to the crappiest school and live in apartments most kids wouldn't be caught dead in (no pun intended).

Did I enjoy the movie? Not really.
Watch it again? Afraid not...
Buy the DVD? Ummm.. no...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The original asian movie that this americanized crap came from (Ju-on/The Grudge, Ringu/The Ring) does a much better job in conveying the sense of horror. I don't know if it's the acting or the stylization of asian directors that they've just got a knack for doing it right.

I have to admit though, I'd LOVE to see an Americanized version of Battle Royale!

Wow.. it's incredible... first ghosts whisper things ( psychophonies ) then ghosts use radio and tv in order to transmit things, now what, cellphones and wifi? These ghosts have to be awfully clever in order to break WPA encryptions without any means to do so! :D

Lame argument.

BTW.. i think that the greenish tint is something perennial after Matrix, and yes.. as you said it can be achieved by washing off the red tint....

I love to have you as a movie critic, Mark, now I know what I am *NOT* going to see :D

Thanks a lot

It's called "Kairo." NetFlix has it. I thought it was awfully creepy. No major gore, no jump-out-of-your-seat shocks, just a deepening atmosphere of dread. And the apocalyptic angle was interesting.

I was pissed off when I heard about this movie, because it sounds like a quickie cash-in rip-off of Stephen King's novel Cell.

If you crave good horror, I've heard that The Descent is pretty awesome. I certainly plan to see it myself.

No Pulse.. It Be Dead

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Check out the Japanese original.

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