Pulse (2001) User Reviews

J-Horror Does it Again

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 13 July 2017]

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.

Made me squirm...

[saladin-10 · 8/10 · 12 March 2007]

I'm an old horror buff. I've seen some of the more notorious stuff around (Salo, Cannibal Holocaust, Caligula,...), but they all more or less about visceral horror.

Which doesn't work if you helped slaughter a few pigs.

What does work? Psychological horror. Impending doom you cannot prevent. Things you can't see or understand, but that are there right in front of your face. Music that shouldn't be scary, but which lingers anyway.

It's a typical, slow moving J-Horror with an atypical idea behind it. That oblivion is actually preferable than immortality.

Gore doesn't scare me - but some ideas do.

Like i said - it made me squirm... One of the best horror movies ever made - for the patient ones.

Outstanding Japanese ghost story

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 13 January 2012]

What could have been just another RING rip-off turns out to be one of the most thought-provoking and genuinely eerie films I've seen come out of Japan: it's a film in which the door between the living and the dead is accidentally opened, leading to all manner of sinister events as it transpires that the dead are returning to Earth.

Like most J-horrors of the past decade, PULSE is a slow burner that moves almost glacially, gradually slotting in the various pictures of the jigsaw as its final game plan becomes apparent. Saying too much would spoil the intriguing, dream-like narrative, suffice to say that this is a film that doesn't disappoint at any stage during its progress. The 'ghost' segments are supremely creepy and disturbing, countered neatly by shock suicide scenes and a clever bit of FX involving a plane that was later cribbed for Alex Proyas's Hollywood movie KNOWING.

The cast give typically understated performances that increase in intensity as the character list is gradually whittled down, leading to one heck of a grim climax. Altogether, I can't fault the direction, writing, acting as all three combine to deliver an imaginative and thoughtful ghost story that's extremely different from most of what's come before.

Existential horror

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 25 June 2008]

Sometimes you don't need frantic action or buckets of blood to have a movie that scares you out of your seat.

Like the character in I am Legend, there are few people left on Earth at the end of this movie. Tokyo is a ghost town. Where did they all go? That is left for you to argue. Good film for a discussion group.

Is there a finite space where all the souls of the departed go? What happens when that space fills? Interesting questions that are addressed in a very creepy manner by this movie.

But isn't the universe expanding? Do we have to worry now. Is death preferable to living, if you are lonely? You are constantly thinking while you experience this film, and you are never sure of the answers. Call it "adult horror," if you will. It is definitely one to see.

Not easy to rate

[odt · 28 September 2003]

There is no easy way to express my opinions on this film, so I will explain it.

There may be spoilers in here.

Background: I was sceptical when I started watching this movie. There used to be a time when I was captured by the hype and forced myself to believe slow Japanese movies simply have to be good. Anyone who does not like them, simply does not get it. Yet lately, I have come to understand that many of those movies really are just boring, shallow, and expressionless. Japanese movies are not great in general because of their nationality, just like American or German films are not. I just recently saw Dark Water and Tomie and thought they were very dull. I did not really expect this to be very different. Luckily, I was positively suprised. Right at the beginning I noticed how incredibly beautifully this film was shot. Towards the middle of it though, it seemed to me as if this would be just another bad Japanese movie. It developed all the signs of that. E.g. charachters that are unnaturally introverted, even for a Japanese; that don't talk about the things, that happen to them. You can't really connect to those charachters, they don't have much of a charachter development. We've got a lot of atmosphere shots, but nothing really happens. Just what I feared. This kind of movie is not arty or culturaly meaningful. Its just shallow. Yet, as the film went on, I noticed this one is different. It seems to criticize the japanese culture for this lack of communication. What I thought would be a bad charachteristic of it, is actually the central point of it. It seems like the director consiously displayed the charachters, the way I described before, not because this is just another boring japanese movie, but because he tries to criticize this charachteristic of the Japanese society. At some point in the movie it is being said that the ghosts attempt to capture the people in their eternal loneliness. This may be a very strong hint. In the end it seems like this movie does not merely inherit the same bad aspects of other movies but analyzes them and more so the society behind it. In the end it is being said that there seem to be people alive in Latin America. Guess why: because they talk! They communicate, talk about the ghosts and don't let themselves become lonely that easy. None of the Japanese charachters in this movie seem to have friends. The main charachter tells the girl with the car that he had one friend who he did not really know. He also said earlier that he maybe got an internet connection to meet people. I think this does all support my theory. What do you think?

It wants to scare you (slight spoiler)

[galensaysyes · 6/10 · 14 November 2001]

If this movie weren't trying so hard, it would be scarier. Like many horror films, it sets to work on us right from the beginning, before anything is happening to be scared about: immediately the Psycho music kicks in and the camera moves jarringly. These devices have the effect on me of recognizing them to be independent of what the screen's showing. At the same time, the movie develops in the standard deliberate monotone of Japanese thrillers, but whereas in some of them, e.g. Ring, the audience is actually being fed information at a steady rate, here it has to wait a long time to find out what's going on, and this does not particularly arouse curiosity. It is quite interesting, however, once it's revealed--more interesting than the story that's built around it. Although the theme--the erosion of the line between the living and the ghostly--is accurately illustrated by the central image--ghostlike figures on monitors--somehow the phenomenon seems not quite to jibe with the explanation of it. And the last stage of the invasion, if it can be called that, happens very suddenly, and I don't understand how it came to happen. (This section of the movie looks a lot like anime.)

This director's films all tend to remind me of other movies. Cure is like Angel Dust, and this one is like Ring, with computers. To me they never seem to get far beyond the resemblances; never seem quite to get where they're going.

Major Creep Fest

[dbborroughs · 10/10 · 17 July 2004]

Why isn't this available in the US?

I don't know how to describe this with out making it sound like something its not, but I have to say that this is one of the creepiest and most disturbing films I've seen in quite some time. Its not perfect, even if I gave it a 10 out of 10, simply because few films have left me that uneasy.

Operating well with a sense that I can only describe as dream logic this concerns the really weird events surrounding several people who notice something is wrong when a friend goes missing. The friend is not the trigger, but the event that they notice making them suspect that all is not right in their world.

Everything about how this story is calculated to send slowly building shivers up and down your spine. There are no real moments of shock, just ever growing horror and unease. I hated the way that this movie made me feel but couldn't stop watching.

If there are any flaws is that the film is a bit long at just under two hours. The pacing wears and the logic, while frightening gets stretched almost to the breaking point.

If you can stand slow calculating horror films that freak you out with images and implications then see this movie. Its one of the best I've seen in a while.

OK but far from perfect

[scobbah · 6/10 · 29 July 2004]

I'm a true fan of Japan horror in general, but I did not find the voting results of this piece at IMDb fair to what I did see. The piece can't simply compete with other Japan horrors who's into the same style (for example; "Ringu" & "Dark Water"). It's OK, but I felt time from time that it was very confusing, and at some parts it was rather difficult to keep up with the twisted storyline and the development of the movie. I like the atmosphere of this piece, but I'm afraid it's too weak to turn out in a movie highscore. I wish they had added more depth to the characters and perhaps some more depth to the story itself in general, to put more perspective on what's really going on. Anyhow, it's well worth it's time it serves in the VCR and if you're into Japan horrors, well this one might entertain you for tonight.

The creepiest horror movie ever made

[zevt · 10/10 · 23 July 2005]

Sorry for the hyperbole topic but I mean it. I am a horror movie fanatic and I have become desensitized to cheap scares with loud noises and murderers running around with axes. I am very picky and only like one out of every few dozen horror movies I watch. I also don't like nonsensical supernatural horror that uses creepy images as a gimmick without actually bothering to make any sense. So when I say that this is the creepiest horror movie ever made, it is not hyperbole.

That said, this movie will bore or confound the average horror movie watcher. It is not linear or logical and it doesn't explain everything that is going on, but it doesn't have to.

This is an apocalyptic horror movie about loneliness and how people may become distant islands and ghosts even through connecting technology like cellphones and the internet. I don't know how anyone can make a horror movie about loneliness and make it creepy as hell but Kiyoshi Kurosawa pulled it off.

That's all you need to know. Experience it with the lights off, no breaks, noise or distractions, or I will lock you in a room with a depressed ghost and tape the door shut with red tape until you become so lonely you will evaporate into nothing.

My score is only that high because of its technical qualities

[zetes · 6/10 · 27 February 2006]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is certainly one of Japan's best current directors. His directorial fingers are impeccable. Unfortunately, as a screenwriter, I think he's hit or miss. This is my sixth Kurosawa film, and that makes exactly half I loved, exactly half I disliked or was largely indifferent toward. Cure, Charisma and Bright Future are brilliant films in both mind and body. Seance, Doppelganger and Pulse all bored me to a certain extent. Pulse is great in its technical senses. The cinematography and the sound editing are both pretty impressive. But the script is just poor. It's no surprise that this mediocre film is the one Kurosawa film that has been chosen for an American remake. I wonder if the director purposely sold out with it. It's a pretty standard J-horror plot (ghosts start appearing on the internet), and it seems geared toward teenagers. The effect is only slightly better than a Hideo Nagata movie (IMO, he's the biggest hack working in Japan right now). The characters act like complete morons and the dialogue is often horrendous.

More depressing than scary, and not worth 2 hours...

[MinionWench · 5/10 · 23 July 2008]

I fully anticipate some hate in my direction, as some people have really taken to this film, but I have to say that it has just never done anything for me. I first watched it a couple of years ago and I had to force myself to finish it, for the sake of finishing it, but I was overwhelmingly bored. I returned to it again this afternoon (with a little bit of an older head on my shoulders :)) and I feel I can sort of offer a little more than 'boredom' as a comment.

I think you have to start off be coming to this film with the right preconceptions, or at least not the wrong ones. It doesn't fit the same 'type' of J-Film as the Grudge or Ring, there are deaths but it's not some vengeful she-ghost hunting you for eternity, this film tries to utilise a different sort of 'horror', on a more emotional or psychological level by focusing on very everyday human fears such as death, the afterlife, and loneliness.

It's interesting to see how (although much of the technology in the film is now very dated) some of the comments on it - such as those about how the internet doesn't really connect people - are still quite valid. But one of the problems I came to realise that I had with the film is that its message of an isolated world, with people ultimately being unable to face existing alone any more, felt too forced. It was alluded to or actually stated by the characters quite repeatedly, it was unmistakable what they were trying to 'say', and the more they said it the more depressed I felt.

I wasn't scared by the thought, I wasn't horrified or disturbed I just felt a bit blue. Watching the world become less and less populated just felt a little too unbelievable, I felt I was watching a film taking place in some kind of parallel Earth, I felt distanced from it and that distance just sort of numbed the impact.

One of the things I did like were the two separate stories playing alongside each other, and the meeting up, but I felt that the male student's story was far more engaging than the co-workers, they never seemed to progress in the story, they just kept dropping out one by one until the requisite one was left behind.

I also have to agree that some of the film is beautifully shot, but to balance it there are also lots of grey scenes (some of which are quite hard to see), intended I think to add to the isolated, cold, world, but it's not really enough to break up the film or to keep it visually exciting. You can only sit and watch people having conversations, or wandering around unhappily, for so long. The use of music is very good, actually lifting up some scenes and making them quite memorable (I'm thinking of the jumping woman, for those who have seen it). But there seem to be quite long periods without it, or where it isn't used to contribute at all.

I'm not saying that this is a horrible film, but I'm trying to balance out that it won't suit some people. Rent it first if possible, this isn't the kind of J-Horror film (can we call it horror?) that all films seem to be marketed as at the moment, it really might work for you, but it just didn't have the effect on me that it seems to have done on others here.

Incredibly Creepy and Haunting

[shark-43 · 9/10 · 5 November 2002]

This film works on many levels. What's odd is that one place it is weak in is the plot - it does somewhat tie it all up and make sense but my main point is it doesnt really matter - the director set out to make a scary ghost story and that it is! I see horror films from all over the world so I am pretty jaded when it comes to something "scaring" me but this film has many sequences that truly are frightening and disturbing. Some of the images have stayed with me for weeks. The lighting, the art direction and the use of muted colors (aside from reds used effectively)all make up for a creepy, eerie visual. I have to laugh at the arrogance of some of the comments on this and other "horror" films that claim since it didnt scare them the film is NOT SCARY. That is b.s. What scares one person may not scare another. You can say the piece didn't scare you but to make such a sweeping statement is vain. I personally didn't like any of the Friday of 13th movies, but obviously those films work on some level for millions of people. This film is so non-American in it's pace and core that that is what might turn off some viewers, but that's what I loved about it. The director just sets up the camera and keeps it on a space and then has things slowly emerge from the sides - he has you start to look and scope and wonder if you are REALLY seeing something as opposed to the lazy, bloated SHOCK moment of most US horror films. There are moments when people are confronted by visions/images of ghosts that move and terrorize just like real dreams - slow movements, awkward movements as the ghost approaches you. Terrifying. The film definitely doesn't know how to wrap it all up but in many ways, I found this film even scarier than the original RING. Well made ghost story. Seek it out, fans.

Too indistinct for its own good

[I_Ailurophile · 6/10 · 23 October 2021]

I love Takefumi Haketa's score - sometimes disquieting, sometimes sorrowful, but always lending substantially to the mood in the film. I love the haunting atmosphere that pervades the feature, cemented with scenes of desolation - empty buildings and streets.

I wish I had more concrete praise to offer.

There's a vague theme about not giving in to despair and loneliness, as such surrender is the real killer. This thematic content is stronger than any specific sense of narrative - which seems backwards, but here we are. For as much as the Internet is emphasized in one way or another, it's nothing more than a starting point for the plot. For as much as red tape is emphasized, it doesn't seem to serve any actual function in-universe, and therefore none in the plot. And because a few different ideas seem to be put forth, it's unclear why events transpire in the first place. The netherworld is the embodiment of loneliness, maybe? Ghosts want to pass into the real world from the netherworld - because the real world is inherently not lonely, maybe? Ghosts and humans can't coexist in the same space, maybe? Ghosts want to make friends, maybe?

I can abide narrative that is disordered, weak, minimized, or scarce - but I do generally require narrative of some kind in a movie, or some overarching unifying quality. Unless... is that lingering ambiguity the whole point? Is the lack of clarity about what is happening, or why, the other side of the coin to the looming air in the picture of nervous foreboding?

I've only seen a few other Kiyoshi Kurosawa features, but I greatly enjoyed those that I have. I began watching 'Pulse' with high expectations, and I'm sad to say I'm let down. I don't think it's outright bad, but I want to like it much more than I do. The great atmosphere and music keep the film aloft while deeply indistinct writing prevents it from achieving greater heights. Why, as if to accentuate the very difficulty I'm having - I note two blurbs from critics who, speaking from opposite perspectives, still had the same conclusion. Stephen Hunter, for The Washington Post, wrote a positive review in saying "'Pulse' is best enjoyed if it's not questioned too closely. It lives visually in a way it cannot live intellectually." In a nearly identical remark, Jeff Shannon's critical review for The Seattle Times observed "While it's rattling your nerves, 'Pulse' leaves your brain wanting more."

I don't know anything about ghosts, but 'Pulse' definitely exists in a liminal space between life and death. Or is that uncertainty also wholly intentional?

Obviously many other people have gotten more out of this than I have; I'm glad for them. Perhaps given more time and consideration I'll turn a corner and regard 'Pulse' more highly. As it is, much to my disappointment, I'm just unsatisfied.

Starts out well, limps to a long drawn out conclusion

[northwatuppa · 5/10 · 1 October 2006]

This film starts out well, doing all the right stuff. It had me going for awhile.

But it get's slower, and slower, and slower--not to mention murkier. It is one of those films that would have worked fine as a 90 minute movie--even with some flaws.

But , anyway, this film goes on for about two hours, long after the viewer's interest has begun to wander and you've started scratching your head, wondering exactly what is happening.

Toward the end it kind of degenerates into overly long scenes of people running around in blasted, derelict industrial buildings breathing very hard into their microphones and shouting uninspired, predictable dialogue.

Some things just aren't very dramatic. Longish scenes of people poking around in pretty much abandoned industrial settings looking for stuff and breathing hard into their microphones isn't dramatic.

By the end, we are working our way through a checklist of horror movie clichés in excruciatingly slow motion. Ancient horror movie clichés have to be executed with a certain cleverness, a certain panache, and perhaps a little inventive camera work/cutting. Some snappy dialogue, some attitude. Or maybe you just have to get them out of the way fast. That's not what happens in this film.

The premise is rather interesting, but some of the exposition kind of conflicts with the stated premise--unless the stated premise was a red-herring. It's hard to tell from what they give you on screen and the film didn't motivate me to try to figure it out.

So, nice idea, good start ... really, really slow, pretty much unimaginative ending.

Maybe if they had had a bigger special effects budget ...

Ghosts In Everyone's Machine...

[azathothpwiggins · 5 May 2020]

PULSE makes perfect sense in light of Japan's -at the time of the film's release- fall from economic dominance, and it's high suicide rate (30k+ / year). This movie, unlike the pallid American remake, has a blighted atmosphere of inescapable doom. From the opening scene we realize that no one is safe, and nothing will escape the encroaching darkness.

The internet, its users, and the world at large are under attack by spirits that have overrun the afterlife, and spilled back into the land of the isolated living. This brings us a host of grim images in an ever more suffocating death-scape. A tremendous ghost story, PULSE is also a terrifying allegory of cold, empty modernity...

Pulse isn't your typical Japanese ghostly horror, in fact it's rather interesting.

[TheMovieDiorama · 7/10 · 26 February 2018]

Now the more knowledgable ones amongst you may know that Hollywood remade this a few years later after this was originally released in 2001. Do yourself a favour and do not watch it. I repeat: Do. Not. Watch. It. Instead, go out and get the original. A group of young people in Tokyo start to experience strange phenomena including missing colleagues, technological glitches and unusual happenings. As suicide rates increase, three strangers scavenge the city to find answers. This is not your usual J-Horror. Yes, there are ghostly illusions that slowly creep towards the camera (which freaked me the hell out) but beneath this is a central metaphor regarding loneliness. How the utilisations and ever-growing prominence of technology will only serve to isolate us from reality. Exploiting social media and the internet into a horror film was inspired, and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa injected a sense of existential dread within every scene. An incredibly original concept back in 2001 that has clearly inspired many newer small budget horrors (Friend Request, Unfriended etc.). Kurosawa features some haunting cinematography, with the help of Junichiro Hayashi, which really hones in on the horror elements that the film required. I mean, who knew staring at computers and waiting for images to move could be so unnerving!? A few ambiguous scenes, like a website that asks the compelling question: "Do you want to meet a Ghost?" which for the most part work. Seriously though, if you see that...smash the computer with a hammer, burn the remains and bury the ashes. Don't just unplug it! Fools! Unfortunately, the third act loses all intrigue and suspense that the first two acts built, and settles for an apocalyptic tone. Personally, far too grandiose for a story that feels better on a smaller scale. I also felt too disconnected with the main characters, struggled to become invested in them. Having said that, Pulse is a great modern J-Horror and a dark reflection of our growing digital world.

Great idea and moments, ultimately dull

[wjohanb · 6/10 · 22 February 2006]

I'd heard so many good things about this movie, I was rather stunned to find myself, well, bored. Please don't confuse me with someone who thinks horror means blood guts and false scares. Indeed, Kairo has, at times, a delicious brooding unnerving sense of dread, and some undeniably classic visuals and moments. But I found myself becoming less and less affected as the movie progressed, irritated even, that such a tantalizing idea was being drained of it's primal effectiveness. In the end, the haunting deeply felt fear that Kairo sporadically creates is left stranded, and the only thing that I talked about after-wards was how it should've been better.

Forever death is eternal loneliness.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 10/10 · 2 March 2004]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Kairo" has to be one of the most mesmerizing supernatural horror films I have ever seen.The film is loaded with extremely dark and brooding atmosphere and some scenes actually scared me.The photography by Junichiro Hayashi is truly beautiful and the score is very haunting.The theme of "Kairo" is that at the end of the line there isn't anything except a fearful nothingness-no heaven or hell,just a miserable eternity of living in between states.The film is cold and bleak,even nihilistic in its portrayal of total isolation."Kairo" is pretty slow-moving and there is absolutely no gore,so fans of "Scream" or similar crap will be disappointed.Still the visuals are amazing:dark skies,deserted streets and crawling shadows will leave you stunned.A must-see for fans of Japanese horror.10 out of 10.

Has a message, but didn't feel that fulfilling in the end.

[carmine-5 · 6/10 · 4 January 2006]

When I started watching the movie I initially enjoyed it. I found it quite suspenseful and atmospheric; the message that loneliness was a risk in modern society felt very interesting. After a while, however, the story seemed to become quite diffuse, containing several plot lines and events that were hard to combine. The movie wants to make a statement about society, but the unnecessary complexity of what is unfolding detracts from the clarity of the message. There is always suspension of disbelief in supernatural films, but I didn't feel that Kairo provided clarity through its alternate reality. As other comments mentioned, the movie feels like it was written on a day-by-day basis, rather than having a destination in place from the beginning to guide the movie's plot.

Probably my favorite movie

[Scatterpulse · 10/10 · 3 July 2009]

This movie is very touching. In fact, almost painfully so. I would recommend it to anyone in the mood to engage in a thought-provoking narrative about the human condition.

I have to admit that when I first saw this film I did not expect it to be what it is. The basic premise involves a haunted website, so when I sat down to view it I was expecting something at the same level of terrible as fear.com; instead, I was shocked to find a truly provocative story full of surrealism and drama that examines the concept of isolation and the deep fear that all people have of loneliness.

This, of course, means that the fear that Kairo invokes is not typical of the horror movie genre--at least not the North American horror movie genre; I can't speak for the Japanese--because it isn't really scary. It's disturbing and eerie, and frankly I wouldn't watch it alone in the dark, but I'll admit that I'm a bit of a coward (The Grudge still terrifies me, so make of that what you will). If you go into this movie wanting to see people being hacked apart, or if you want to be jumping out of your seat every few minutes by fake-out scares, you will probably be pretty angry by the time this one's over. Seriously--you'll probably be more freaked out by the original version of Dark Water, and that's saying something.

However, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. This film provides a very moving portrayal of people's inability to truly connect with one another. It offers a bleak examination of human nature without being heavy-handed or pretentious; it doesn't come off as condescending and the creators obviously aren't trying to be snobbish or "intellectual". It simply asks the question: can we ever truly connect with one another, or are we doomed to be alone by our very natures?

The Circuit

[Fernando-Rodrigues · 7/10 · 19 April 2021]

This movie is atmospheric and has effective scares. I think the biggest problems of it were the time pacing and the CGI FX. But other than that, it's a great illustration of the phantasmagoric dynamic of the digital era. It's desolating and real at the same time.

Not scary, not coherent, but not completely bad (or good either)

[starving_college_student · 3/10 · 9 January 2005]

My friend let me borrow this. With my friend being a major film buff and having a refined taste in films, I was expecting something really good here. And me being a graduate from film school (still making short films and Japanese horror films no less) I've come to realize that the Japanese horror genre is something truly gritty, dark and frightening. Films like Ring, Ju-on and Audition are completely terrifying pieces of horror. This film however is not a part of that category.

While billed as a horror film, it really doesn't feel like horror. There really is no tension built up because the pacing is very dream like. Also in all horror films there is a clear "evil" plaguing the main characters. But throughout this movie I was left wondering "what the ?#($ is going on? Are these ghosts? Whats the motivation?" Even after the "explanation." In this movie, the explanation is trying to be logical, but if you think about it, the logic of it is completely ludicrous. And more importantly it doesn't explain anything. It doesn't give connections to why this is happening with the computers and why these "red tape" rooms are being created. Now I don't know if this lack of coherency is a result of a bad translation of the subtitles (but I can speak Japanese and could understand some of the original as well). It feels like certain things were "left out." For example, in the tag-line used for the movie on this site, it talks about a web-cam that is used. There is never once a mention of a web-cam in the movie, nor did I see one.

And that is the second problem. This film is so gritty and so dark that its really difficult to see things properly. (that's my one complaint about Japanese films, they are all so poorly lit) I grew more frustrated than intrigued because things were not clear enough the make out.

And lastly the characters and situations are not really plausible. The world this story takes place is overly contrived. Everyone is lonely and has no friends. I mean, not one friend. That's not normal, even for someone who is lonely. The way everyone reacts also isn't very believable. It feels like the film maker had something to say, but in doing so created a place and characters which aren't totally believable.

I have to say that this movie was completely baffling to me. But there was a very creepy and gritty atmosphere built up. But for this viewer, it is not enough. A movie is supposed to be everything coming together to tell a visual story. Here the story is lost somewhere in the murk of the atmosphere.

Remarkable, intensely creepy

[rsaintj · 8/10 · 4 June 2002]

I don't want to give away anything about this wonderful, haunting film. If you liked "The Sixth Sense", "The Others" or "Ring", this will show you how those films pale in comparison. I felt my skin crawl so many times, and the movie has been haunting my thoughts for days now. I sincerely hope that a wider audience has a chance to experience this dark, beautiful film.

Lonesome ghosts.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 29 November 2021]

'Pulse (2001)' is primarily about loneliness. Its horror comes not from its phantoms themselves, but from the existential crisis that the presence of those phantoms provokes. As such, it's a little difficult to nail down. It's an enigmatic, often almost ethereal experience that never quite gives you the answers you desire, instead preferring to suggest potential explanations of its central concept without actually confirming anything. As such, it's both a little hard to grasp and equally as hard to shake off. It whispers in your ear that you're right to be afraid, that everything won't be okay in the end. It's heavy stuff, for sure. That's not to say it's especially depressing or anything like that, though. It's bleak, but it isn't heavy-handed; it isn't trying to convert you to its near nihilistic way of thinking. It's definitely a distinct experience. It isn't always super compelling and it sort of drags as it heads towards its finale, but it's an otherworldly and oddly beguiling horror film nevertheless. 7/10.

pretty boring

[fluffset · 4/10 · 5 January 2019]

This movie is so boring, a lot of unnecessary scene. I guess all those scene are exist to show the boredom of our world. I watch this movie because it kind of have high rating but it turned out have snail pacing. I never notice that this pulse thing happen all over the world, maybe if this production have big budget, they can make it looks like "The Happening" by Shyamalan. Its pretty similar in some part.