A sinister spine-tingling techno-thriller whose artistry lies in the power of suggestion rather than a barrage of blood and guts or horror shop special effects.
A sinister spine-tingling techno-thriller whose artistry lies in the power of suggestion rather than a barrage of blood and guts or horror shop special effects.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 10,959
As one of the most cutting-edge Japanese filmmakers, Kiyoshi Kurosawa once again wraps a lowbrow, much-maligned genre -- in this case horror flicks (which were the rage in Japan at the time of this release) -- around some decidedly highbrow philosophical concepts. At the film's outset, Michi (Kumiko Aso) and her cohorts at a rooftop nursery cannot get ahold of their co-worker, Taguchi (Kenji Mizuhashi), who has an important floppy disk. When she ventures over to his apartment, she finds him
pale, listless, and unusually quiet -- that is until he suddenly hangs himself. While the suicide is disconcerting, what really freaks Michi out is that Taguchi's body seems to dissolve into the wall, leaving a sickly black stain. Meanwhile, college slacker Ryosuke Kawashima (Haruhiko Kato) logs onto the Internet for the first time even though he is not particularly fond of computers. Instead of stumbling into a porn site or a chat room, he finds himself in a most peculiar site -- he just sees ghostly images of other people going about their everyday life. Then the computer prompts him, asking, "Would you like to meet ghosts?" Even though he eventually pulls the plug, the machine still on occasion springs to life. He eventually consults a comely computer maven named Harue (Koyuki), who is also utterly baffled. As more and more Internet users seal themselves into their rooms with red duct tape and melt into black splotches, Kawashima and Michi independently come to discover that the Internet has become portal for an increasingly crowded afterlife. As Tokyo becomes increasingly depopulated, Kawashima and Michi cross paths. This film -- which also features cameos by Kurosawa regulars Koji Yakusho, Jun Fubuki, and Sho Aikawa -- was screened at the 2001 Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
It's not about blood, gore and oozing innards but unsettling creepiness that gets under a moviegoer's skin and makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
As vague and frustrating as the narrative can be, it does work up a considerable sense of impending doom, on an Apocalyptic scale, that separates it from other Japanese ghost stories.
in the labyrinthine fabric of Pulse, different characters must all, one by one, confront their own isolation, insignificance and deepest, darkest despair.
Part meditation on the existential loneliness of Japanese society, part horror/sci-fi movie Pulse is often incomprehensible and the net effect is like being caught in a feverish dream . . .
(The remake) looks like it will hit the right notes, especially for American horror fans. But I don't think it will hear the mournful music of the original.
A plague of ghosts abduct the living, leaving Tokyo and the world nearly deserted. Confusing, creepy, ambitious J-horror that tries to say something about modern loneliness.
January 13, 2012
Greg S
Super Reviewer
A computer programmer succumbs to depression and suicide after viewing a mysterious website featuring enigmatic figures in morbid situations. One of the original of the new wave of J Horrors, Pulse actually has a far stronger premise than most; that the spirit world has become vastly overpopulated and started to bleed
into the living world. Unfortunately the story barely explores the implications of the idea til the last 20 minutes or so, leaving the vast majority of the rest of the film as a bunch of kids staring at pasty faced figures lurking in darkened corners and getting spooked by mysterious phone calls. In other words, exactly the same recipe as every other J Horror out there. It's quite atmospheric and the audio-visuals are occasionally interesting but by the time it had actually got to the point I didn't care any more. This may well be of interest to horror aficionados, but I'm just bored of the whole genre
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