Pulse (2001) - Lisa's Review

FINALLY I get around to posting a review for 'Pulse'.  Apologies - A family trip to Yorkshire and subsequent catch-up with other aspects of life has me running behind on a lot of things.

So, to the movie.  This is a very difficult one.  I am usually a big fan of Japanese horror and I don't argue that this movie is definately unsettling and has a great score throughout, but for me, there is more lacking than there is positive about the movie.  Having watched the movie, I was left feeling rather confused by some aspects of it.  I did some reading...all I can say is, how the viewer is meant to come to the conclusions about the supposed social commentary and reflections on the evils of the internet is beyond me.

The movie has two stories running parallel.  In one a young woman is concerned about the disappearances of first one and subsequently more of her work colleagues.  We follow her search for answers as to what has happened and then why.


The second story follows a student who has just had the internet installed (ahhhh I remember that old dial-up noise well).  All of a sudden his computer is logging onto the internet by itself and he is being shown images of different people in what seems to be a repetitive loop of activity.  These images are rather creepy, but only in the same way that some CCTV images of today are creepy when you know something is amiss.  We follow his search to find answers as to what is going on.

Asides from a few creepy images, there was nothing in this film to produce any scares usually associated with Japanese horror movies.  It all boils down to a ghostly conclusion and explanation as to why ghosts are present in our world and to be honest that thought is the scariest aspect of the movie for me.  I'm a person that takes a lot of scaring, but do this subject correctly and you'll scare the bejezus outta me.  Sadly, this movie didn't deliver for me in this respect, although I will say I will think about it later in bed when I really shouldn't.

I would recommend this to any lovers of Japanese Horror, but most definately not to a casual horror viewer. The confusing attempts at a warning as to the evils of technology and the internet within this movie seems to be more of a priority for the director than how the movie would translate for the viewer.

In all, no big thumbs down or up from me this time around.  One to watch if the genre interests you.  ne probably best to avoid if you're not a lover of confusing movies with social messages.