Pulse (Kairo) (2001)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 13
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.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 5
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.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 11,395
My Rating
Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Haruhiko Kato
Ryosuke Kawashima -
Kumiko Aso
Michi Kudo -
Koyuki
Harue Karasawa -
Kurume Arisaka
Junko Sasano -
Masatoshi Matsuo
Yoshio Yabe -
Shun Sugata
The Boss -
Kenji Mizuhashi
Taguchi -
Masayuki Shionoya
Ghost -
Jun Fubuki
Michi's Mother -
Shinji Takeda
Yoshizaki -
Koji Yakusho
Boat Captain -
Takumi Tanji
Man With Bag -
Hassei Takano
Student -
Atsushi Yuki
Student -
Go Takashima
Student -
Sho Aikawa
The Worker
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Pulse (Kairo) Trailer & Photos
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (13) | DVD (13)
Where the average Japanese horror flick is petulant and nasty, Pulse is dolorous, shivery, and surreal.
Top CriticIt's an apocalyptic ghost story with some eerie images and a surprising turn toward the end, but it bogs down considerably between the good scenes.
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.
While it's rattling your nerves, Pulse leaves your brain wanting more.
It's best just to give yourself over to its dizzy dreaminess and abstract analysis of the persistent, beckoning throb of the digital underground.
By the end of Pulse the world seemed a whole lot creepier place. I'm pretty sure that means it worked.
Not just the scariest sample of J-horror I've yet seen, but also the most profound
It's scary, it's depressing, it's engrossing, and it's good.
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.
Some find it pulse-pounding, while others might be so bored they will have to check to make sure they still have a pulse by the time it's all over.
Pulse is pulse-pounding horror that should not be missed by any fan of the genre.
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.
Pulse's craft as a dread-fest is superb.
Even the technology, employed to aesthetic end, creates less a sense of visual poetics than of out-of-date-ness.
Pulse is emptied and perplexing at trying length.
Audience Reviews for Pulse (Kairo)
Super Reviewer
There are no cheap scares here. Pulse is a philosophical horror film with truly eerie quality. It is those silent and slow burning scenes of horror that comes off as the most effective and scary here. This is one of those films that you don't wanna watch alone. But aside the horror elements, Pulse is also a film where Kurosawa makes a poignant statement about the Internet and it's side-effects to us people. In many ways Pulse is a story about alienation and communication. He truly shows some true concern about the isolation in which many of humans are living in these days and all because of computers, or should i say the growing use of technology.
Kurosawa is one of Japan's most interesting and talented directors working today and here he succeeds in creating he's most darkest and stylish work of art to date. He is auteur with style of his very own. If you are bored of today's mindnumbing horror and want something much more innovative or thoghtful, then look no further. Pulse is a dreamlike horror at it's best and one surreal funhouse filled with nightmares and truly terrifying ghosts.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on Pulse (Kairo)
October 21, 2010:
The Best Foreign Supernatural Movies EverFrightened by subtitles? You won't want to miss Moviefone's ongoing tribute to the best foreign...
August 9, 2006:
Critical Consensus: A Brave New "World," A "Step" Down, And No Screenings for "Pulse" and "Zoom"This week at the movies, we've got Oliver Stone paying tribute to the heroes of 9/11 ("World...
May 25, 2006:
Trailer Bulletin: PulseThe Japanese version was called "Kairo." The long-delayed American remake is called...
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Foreign Titles
- Pulse (UK)
- Kairo (FR)
