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—— After Earth May 31
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Pulse (Kairo) (2001)

tomatometer

73

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.

67

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.

audience

61

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

R,

Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Feb 21, 2006

Magnolia Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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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.

February 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
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It'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.

December 16, 2005 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
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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.

December 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

While it's rattling your nerves, Pulse leaves your brain wanting more.

December 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
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It's best just to give yourself over to its dizzy dreaminess and abstract analysis of the persistent, beckoning throb of the digital underground.

December 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
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By the end of Pulse the world seemed a whole lot creepier place. I'm pretty sure that means it worked.

December 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
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Not just the scariest sample of J-horror I've yet seen, but also the most profound

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

It's scary, it's depressing, it's engrossing, and it's good.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed
Cinema Crazed

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.

July 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique
Cinefantastique

in the labyrinthine fabric of Pulse, different characters must all, one by one, confront their own isolation, insignificance and deepest, darkest despair.

August 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film
Eye for Film

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.

March 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Horror.com
Horror.com

Pulse is pulse-pounding horror that should not be missed by any fan of the genre.

March 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Dread Central

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 . . .

February 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page
Sci-Fi Movie Page

(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.

February 17, 2006 Full Review
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Pulse's craft as a dread-fest is superb.

December 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies
Window to the Movies

Even the technology, employed to aesthetic end, creates less a sense of visual poetics than of out-of-date-ness.

December 21, 2005 Full Review Source: culturevulture.net
culturevulture.net

Pulse is emptied and perplexing at trying length.

December 16, 2005 Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego Union-Tribune

Audience Reviews for Pulse (Kairo)

Not so creepy. Not so scary. Just seemed to never end....
October 23, 2012
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night to an terrible nightmare and felt unexplained horror? Or ever had a feeling that you are not alone in your apartment? Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa captures perfectly the mood of that otherworldly dread.
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.
May 10, 2009
emilkakko

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Pulse (UK)
  • Kairo (FR)
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