Pulse

Pulse *

I'll admit from the start, that when it comes to a big-budget Hollywood movie, I'm not very hard on it. When you walk into something like this, you leave with exactly what you expect. And even the horror genre, something which hasn't been successful in the longest time(and I don't mean in the box office), I usually give it a passing grade, if it does what it set out to do. Well, "Pulse" set out to scare you, and it doesn't even do that very well. It even tries to wow you in the end with some sort of statement about society, and thats just so laughable I just discarded it.

Anyways, it starts off by basically saying that technology is bad. Not only is it responsible for predators attacking young children, or a place to put up pornography, but it also ends up being a connection for the dead to come back to Earth from the underworld. Damnit, we should have known. And that's exactly what happens to the young group of college students, whose friend Josh hangs himself after an encounter with a dead person. And now the rest of his friends, including his girlfriend Mattie, try and find a way to get over the loss of their friend. However, they can't find the time to get over him, as their friend continues to send them eerie messages from beyond the grave. While in a chatroom, he begins sending them messages. "Help me," he persists. When his computer is sold to a guy named Dexter, he plugs the computer in, and the only visual he recieves is a live web feed of strange and creepy people looking into the camera. And as the dead begin to attack each person one by one, they take over the life of that person. The dead begin to get life once again, through the internet.

"Pulse" is another one of those horror movies that is just an American version of a Japanease horror flick, and based on the past horror movie remakes like "The Ring," and "The Grudge," I've decided that maybe those movies are actually scary. I find it hard to believe that any form of "The Ring," "The Grudge," or "Pulse," could actually be creepy, but maybe the directors overseas know what they are doing. A few other things: "Pulse" is by the book, not only with the scares, but with the characters. There's the lead girl, aspiring to have a big career(in this case a shrink,) her best friend, the wild party girl who always wants her friend to be living life on the edge. There's the awkward guy friend, who is in love with the lead girl, but is overshadowed by another guy. Oh, and then there's the silly, clown man, who provides the audience with a little bit of comedy from time to time. I tell you, the film critic character from "Lady in the Water" would have a ball with this crew. And I must comment on the fact that those Weinstein brothers can't seem to dish out some extra money for scenery. In Mattie's house, on the wall there was a poster for "Chicago." And in another character's house, there were posters for "Sin City," and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," all films that were produced by Miramax and the Weinsteins. I guess they thought that nobody would notice, but they couldn't put that one past me. The final moral of the story, which barely is an adaquate commentary on the nature of America and their obsessions with technology, seems forced and out of nowhere.Maybe it worked better in the Japanese version, but not here.

I'll give the movie bonus points for two things. The first thing is the photography. The entire film is pretty much grey and blue(aside from the red tape, which keeps the dead people out. And I still don't know why.) It captures a real dreary looking atmosphere. However, there is no difference between the way the city looks before the dead people take over than after. I didn't see any comparsion at all. The film should have started a little brighter and happier, and then over time became more dark and dreary. Second, I liked the ending. It doesn't for the typical way to end something, but I think I would have ended it a scene before it did. The final scene on the side of the road just seemed pointless and stupid. Maybe they had to have some filler, but it was very much unneeded. "Pulse" is lifeless.