Pulse is a strong candidate for worst film of the year. It's completely devoid of any interesting characters, any interesting camera work or visuals, and anything the least bit horrifying.
Set in what i assume to be a futuristic time where everything looks the same as it does now, only there's no sunlight or working indoor lighting, Pulse tries to makes us afraid of our digital machinery, as if it were a new storing place for hell's angels. Instead, it makes us afraid of more Japan horror being remade as cheap one-note American crap.
i don't know where to begin to describe the banality of this film. Another reviewer really nailed it when they said the film would be more tense if we actually cared whether the lead actors lived or died. Even the normally plucky and watchable Milian is relegated to interchangeable terrified and puzzled looks. The soul stealing imagery and black plague like marks that are supposed to be so terrifying get lost in the film's direction, and would be scarier as a series of still photographs.
The lack of sunlight makes the characters seem pale and boring, or maybe they were just that way to begin with. Inexplicable coincidences and convenient meetings attempt to stitch the film together but it's a total lost cause. Who, what, or where it all happened are completely lost by the end of the film, and the sense of bewilderment i felt at the end was perhaps the most horrifying part of the experience.
i have seen the future of reality horror, and it is sitting through a screening of Pulse.
Grade: F
Set in what i assume to be a futuristic time where everything looks the same as it does now, only there's no sunlight or working indoor lighting, Pulse tries to makes us afraid of our digital machinery, as if it were a new storing place for hell's angels. Instead, it makes us afraid of more Japan horror being remade as cheap one-note American crap.
i don't know where to begin to describe the banality of this film. Another reviewer really nailed it when they said the film would be more tense if we actually cared whether the lead actors lived or died. Even the normally plucky and watchable Milian is relegated to interchangeable terrified and puzzled looks. The soul stealing imagery and black plague like marks that are supposed to be so terrifying get lost in the film's direction, and would be scarier as a series of still photographs.
The lack of sunlight makes the characters seem pale and boring, or maybe they were just that way to begin with. Inexplicable coincidences and convenient meetings attempt to stitch the film together but it's a total lost cause. Who, what, or where it all happened are completely lost by the end of the film, and the sense of bewilderment i felt at the end was perhaps the most horrifying part of the experience.
i have seen the future of reality horror, and it is sitting through a screening of Pulse.
Grade: F