Pulse (2006)

Featured Audience Ratings

• John M

  
  Remake of another good japanese horror film. This one wasnt pulled off as good as The Grudge but still came across very well.

• Jeff "

  
  What is the deal with remaking excellent horror films? The films are terrific to begin with. There's nothing wrong with them, the only thing is that the American Studios want to cash in on the remake because they're so greedy and don't give a shit about destroying… More
  What is the deal with remaking excellent horror films? The films are terrific to begin with. There's nothing wrong with them, the only thing is that the American Studios want to cash in on the remake because they're so greedy and don't give a shit about destroying classics. With the remake of Kairo, now titled Pulse, we get just that. The film is a recipe for disaster. There is nothing good to be found within. The entire film is waste of Celluloid and it's just a big stylish special effects extravaganza. A good horror film uses atmosphere to build its horror, but this remake uses special effects, and it works badly. Although not as bad as the sequels, Pulse is still a sloppily made horror remake that just doesn't cut. The acting, story and directing are all terrible, and there's nothing going on that will appeal to the diehard horror fan. This is a pointless, awful remake of great film and it scraps the bottom of the barrel when it comes to trying to outdo the original. On the rare occasion a remake works, but 97% of the time, it doesn't. One reason they fail is because they never capture the essence, the creativity, the richness of the original film. Pulse is yet another awful horror remake and it doesn't work whatsoever. Luckily, it will be forgotten in the next ten years.

• Conner R

  
  I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would, basically taking the virtual ghost idea to a new level. A really interesting look is given to the movie which will undoubtedly remind you of The Ring. However, this is way more of a post-apocalyptic premise that was disguised as… More
  I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would, basically taking the virtual ghost idea to a new level. A really interesting look is given to the movie which will undoubtedly remind you of The Ring. However, this is way more of a post-apocalyptic premise that was disguised as thriller with a final solution in hand. This really doesn't have a definite ending, nor is it a mystery. A lot of why this works has to do with Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder. Without them, this could've been really cheesy. However, the above average acting makes this a pretty believable movie in the end. It's effective and definitely worth watching.

• Dean M

  
  Not bad, but quite strange scary and has loads with terrifying thrills and gruesome special effects. Kristen Bell doesn't give a great performance and the rest of the cast with the exception of Ziagler give somewhat good performances. Horror remake of Japanese's 2001… More
  Not bad, but quite strange scary and has loads with terrifying thrills and gruesome special effects. Kristen Bell doesn't give a great performance and the rest of the cast with the exception of Ziagler give somewhat good performances. Horror remake of Japanese's 2001 <i>Kairo</i>.

• KJ P

  
  What the hell? Are they serious? This piece of crap should have never been made, it has to be one of the dumbest attempt's to scare someone, that I have ever seen!

• Leigh R

  
  Creepy...

• E.J. B

  
  Compared to every other horror movie that came out of Hollywood this year, this one has some nice touches to it. But watch the original please!!

• Bruce B

  
  Turned out to be a pretty good movie, Not as good as the Japanese Version which was made first, but still good, Slow start but Dyamite Ending. The Scene with vader coming out of the Dryer was the best.

• Dean !

  
  An ok horror/thriller based on a Japanese film. It starts ok and you get a real sense of doom and gloom in the way it is made. However it seems to lose direction towards the end. You should like this if you like White Noise, The Ring or Dark Water.

• Dean L

  
  This had such a great premise, but fell really short. I wish they had done more with it.

• Luke B

  
  Didn't start off too badly. Some very nice cinematography and a couple of genuine scares. It soon forgets all this by introducing cliched teenage characters from all other horror films. Since this is a remake, and a Hollywood one at that, the makers feel the need to spell out… More
  Didn't start off too badly. Some very nice cinematography and a couple of genuine scares. It soon forgets all this by introducing cliched teenage characters from all other horror films. Since this is a remake, and a Hollywood one at that, the makers feel the need to spell out what is going on. Endless exposition scenes just prove the director/writers etc. have no respect for their audience or their intelligence. It also makes for a very dull and forgettable film. The original lingered in the mind and had you questioning events. Since it's so short it doesn't do too badly.

• Roy G

  
  It was hard to find the pulse in this tame remake.

• Steve B

  
  I shoulda fuckin' known better.

• Drew S

  
  Oh God, this movie blows. Not scary in the slightest...not even in a jump-shock way. Kristen Bell can do better than this. The intent and atmosphere of the original were butchered on sight into something completely irreparable. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's lonely, winsome thesis on… More
  Oh God, this movie blows. Not scary in the slightest...not even in a jump-shock way. Kristen Bell can do better than this. The intent and atmosphere of the original were butchered on sight into something completely irreparable. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's lonely, winsome thesis on isolation in our culture has been transformed into this pathetically brainless teen-pop horror flick that no one should ever waste their money on seeing. Check out the original if you have even a modicum of interest in this film.

• Morgan S

  
  can hollywood not think of anything else that will accually SCARE us? i dont know just nothing new

• Steve K

  
  Surprisingly faithful to the original, but missing the total sense of dread that it really needs to sell it.

• George R

  
  Ok, this is the WORST HORROR MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN! This movie is a complete waist of time, I'm not kidding. Do not spend any damn time watching this movie. The run time to this movie is 1 hour & 25 minutes, but this movie is so boring, slow, & pointless that it feels… More
  Ok, this is the WORST HORROR MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN! This movie is a complete waist of time, I'm not kidding. Do not spend any damn time watching this movie. The run time to this movie is 1 hour & 25 minutes, but this movie is so boring, slow, & pointless that it feels like 3 damn hours, & it never ends! I don't even know where to start on how bad this movie is. And please take note that I didn't even watch the original Japanese one, Kairo. Characters: All of the characters in this movie are douche bags & dumbasses! I hated each & every one of them & I really wanted them all to die! Mattie (Bell) is some girl who does pointless crap throughout the entire movie multiple time. She is a waste of time. And the same goes for every other character. I also forgot to mention that they're all idiots as well! Did I tell you that the character Josh (Tucker) appareantly downloaded viruses off the web? He seems like a very smartt guy. But wait! I also forgot to mention he had ghosts locked up in a flash drive! Makes sense to me! And finally, he 'accidentally' set them loose! That Josh guy is one bonified idiot without a doubt. Why would you 1) Have ghosts locked up? & 2) Not destroy the motherfuckers in the first place?! This movie is nothing but pure shit. Oh shit, I forgot this as well, Josh had another flash drive with the anti-virus to destroy the ghosts! So instead of using that flash drive to destroy them, he decided go to the library where he was the first victim of the ghosts. And lemme just end this with saying that the anti-virus never works. Oh, but that's the least of this movie's problems. Actors/Acting: The actors in this movie, I don't know, I didn't care for them, & their acting was pretty much lifeless. And they all had the same face throughout the whole movie. Plot/Story: There is no plot, let alone even a story. It's supposed to be about some internet ghosts that absorb your face & remove your reason for living. yes, that's right, the ghosts take your reason to live, so after that, you become emo & wanna commit suicide. But here's where that sucks, if you don't kill yourself, the ghosts will. Oh but that's the least of it. This movie is so boring! The movie takes so damn long to accomplish nothing, & when it does try something out, it doesn't even work! Just when you think the movie will end, no, something new occurs & causes havoc on the city! I wanted to throw my damn remote at the TV to make it stop! I felt my own damn life being drained by this horrible movie! Strangely, it's both predictable & unpredictable at the same time. This movie doesn't seem to want to end! So lemme end this by spoiling it & saying that since the anti-virus didn't work for jack shit, the whole world ended up being taken over by the ghosts of the internet. Scares: There are no scares, not even a single jump scare. You can see the ghosts/scares from a mile away. Oh, & did I mention one ghosts comes out of a laundry machine? Yeah, a fucking laundry machine. How is that scary? I don't know! People bitched & whine how a ghost called through a cellphone, but not about that? Something is wrong. So to put it down easily, the scares in this movies were bought off a horror shop. Editing/Effects: I didn't care for them. the effects were nothing too special, & are being overshadowed by the movie's crapfest. Most of the movie's editing relied on glitching static to attempt to give it that tech & internet-like feel to it. Only it drives you crazy, & not in the good way. But the editing is also a sad attempt to scare you. This movie also has a blue tint/hue to it! No matter what scene or time it is, the movie still looks blue, no matter what. It's also too fucking dark of a blue, making it almost impossible to see anything. I watched a few clips of the original, & lemme tell you that there is a huge difference between their colors (and movie in general). The original has no hue or tints to it. You can see everything clearly & thee is some sunlight. Dialogue: "You're not wasting my time!" "Well you're wasting mine." yeah, well so are you Belle. No this dialogue is bad, just bad. This movie makes the remakes of "One Missed Call", "The Grudge", "Shutter", & "Mirrors" look Oscar-worthy. No really, it's that bad. Why this movie has a 10% while "one Missed Call" has a sad 00% (when that movie actually has some sort of plot) is beyond me. No really, this movie is horrible on every level. It wasted 1 hours & 25 fucking minutes of my life! That is time I will NEVER get back. You wanna see both a terrible remake & horror movie & movie in general? Watch Pulse. I would never recommend this movie to ANYONE! This movie will not only make you feel emo, but it will make you wish you were in there to murder yourself to stop watching this movie. This movie is PERMAMNETLY #1 on my list of the Worst horror movies I have EVER seen in my life, & #1 on my list of the WORST movies I have eve seen. It even spawned 2 straight to DVD sequels, which were surprisingly & unbelievably worse than this one.

• Jacob P

  
  A very thrilling\exciting but scary horror film with a very good story to it. Possibly one of the greatest paranormal horror movies of all time.

• Jeff B

  
  Even if the opening credits had not clued you into this being an adaptation of a Japanese horror movie, the murky lighting, one-note somber tone, and disappearing ink-blot specters would surely pound this notion home. Though certainly not made of brass, The Ring gave American… More
  Even if the opening credits had not clued you into this being an adaptation of a Japanese horror movie, the murky lighting, one-note somber tone, and disappearing ink-blot specters would surely pound this notion home. Though certainly not made of brass, The Ring gave American audiences a wholly unique cinematic vision--something they had never seen. Lesser entries The Grudge and The Ring 2 pushed the issue, exhausting this vision until the audience's saturation point for Japanese horror was duly reached. With Pulse, it simply feels like moviegoers have been made to crawl down this road once too often. In this PG-13-rated thriller, a group of friends (Bell, Milian) discover that the dead are crossing over through wireless technology. These angry buggers (apparently, the dead come in only one form: mad as hell) come through everything from cell phones to washing machines (?). Bell assumes the role of the obligatory impossibly-cute damsel-heroine (inheriting a mantle from Naomi Watts and Sarah Michele Gellar), the fulcrum in another paper-thin story of ultimate terror transcending unlikely boundaries. Though usually spot-on in television's Veronica Mars, she is rendered helpless by the preposterously recycled script, which apparently could not even be salvaged by horror-meister Wes Craven. By the time she suddenly and unbelievably hooks up with the obligatory hot rebel/loner (Ian Somerhalder, inheriting a mantle from David Dorfman and Jason Behr) to save the world, the audience will be crying out for another group of heroes: The boys from Office Space, who once handily reduced an evil copying machine to rubble. Bottom line: Ring around the doody.

• Daniel P

  
  Well, this is just plain bad. There's a germ of a good idea here (possibly put to better use in <I>Kairo</I>, the Japanese film of which this is a remake which I've not seen) but it's absolutely fudged in the execution. <p>Ghosts (or spirits, or… More
  Well, this is just plain bad. There's a germ of a good idea here (possibly put to better use in <I>Kairo</I>, the Japanese film of which this is a remake which I've not seen) but it's absolutely fudged in the execution. <p>Ghosts (or spirits, or malevolent beasties or whatever they're supposed to be) find a way through to our world by means of a virus on the internet (ahem), which soon spreads through PDAs, cellphones, electrical cables etc. These nasties 'infect' the living, suck out their souls and turn them into suicidal wrecks - though the infected don't seem to follow through with taking their own lives until they first spook their friends, infect them and/or spout off some sage advise ("they're gonna get you too!"). There could be a metaphor here for how the new digital age has made us all soulless, cell-phone/internet dependant junkies, but it's one that gets troweled on too thick in the beginning and then promptly forgotten by twenty minutes in. And for a film that's so reliant on depicting technology in use to foreshadow its (horribly CGI rendered) ghosties, it doesn't even have the decency to be technologically savvy. So we get the cliché of chat-room conversations being conducted at light speed, characters making calls on their cells to their friends by typing in the numbers (hello, never heard of storing numbers?), and since when do text messages get received centrally aligned? Little annoyances add up and it becomes increasingly hard to suspend any kind of disbelief.<p><I>Pulse</I> starts bleak and goes down from there - the whole movie drained of any bright color and the actors either playing their roles in mumbled/sombre mode or shrill and exaggerated. According to the credits the script was co-written by Wes Craven, but there's none of his trademark black humor or sardonic dialogue, and the teen-speak is unconvincing. There's no sense of the passage of time here, and the story goes from affecting a small circle of characters to, risibly, THE WHOLE COUNTRY in what seems like a few minutes. There are precious few scares since the CGI work is unimpressive and you know when something is coming because the telltale green/screen outlines appear, or the music-score suddenly screeches in out of nowhere. The most effective moment occurs in the background of a shot when a figure circling the top of a tower suddenly jumps to their death, a genuinely jolting moment that this film otherwise completely lacks. The downbeat, apocalyptic ending could also have helped to make the film worth watching had the decision to put a pretentious, irrelevant <i>Terminator 2</i> style voice-over not been made. <p>Even the presence of personal hero, the inimitable Kristen Bell, is not enough to save this.

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