Pulse

I went to see Pulse knowing it was PG13, so I didn't expect much gore, but couldn't the writer of this story at least have done something more with it?

Pulse is a movie about a hacker who releases a strange computer virus which immediately affects computers everywhere as well as cell phones and even TV screens. We soon find out that the virus is really the dead who have found a way to return to the living world. What they want is the life force of every living being. So it is up to our heroes to try and find a way to stop them before they can consume the entire world.

That's the plot which in my opinion was a rather clever idea. Too bad that the story makes very little sense and is filled with implausibilities that go against the very story that the writer and director were trying to get across. I won't explained these because of the spoilers that would be involved. Of course there aren't many spoilers anyway, since the commercials give much of it away.

The acting was decent, and some of the visuals were nice, but there is very little suspense. This is more of a simple shock film like so many other horror movies that have been filling our theaters for about three years. There is one horror movie that is the exception, and that is The Descent which was released last week. If you want to see one of the best horror movies in the past couple years, go see that one instead and forget about Pulse.

The hacker Josh (Jonathan Tucker) invades the computer of Douglas Ziegler (Kel O'Neil), who is developing a powerful wireless signal and accidentally releases a mysterious force that takes the will to live of the human beings, generating a suicide epidemic and increasing the force. His girlfriend and student of psychology Mattie (Kristen Bell) sees each one of their common friends die and the destruction of the modern world, and together with her new acquaintance Dexter (Ian Somerhalder), they try to plant a virus developed by Josh in the network to shutdown the system and save mankind.

The storyline of "Pulse" is very original and has potential, with the concept of wireless signal bringing some evil and lethal entity. However, the screenplay is weak, presenting characters without any previous development and making this interesting theme similar to a pilot of a TV show. The lead actress Kristen Bell is gorgeous and maybe a good actress for romantic comedies, but her face has no expression in the dramatic scenes when her friends die, or in the creepy and scary scenes, when she is attacked by the forces. Anyway, Ian Somerhalder from "Lost' has a good performance and this movie is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Pulse"

I've seen the trailer for this movie some time ago, and I decided to watch it. It's one of those horror movies with eerie sets and shots. They chose Bucharest, Romania as a main location, so I found familiar places in it. The campus featured in the film is the one from "Politehnica" University.

The movie itself is well written and has a coherent plot. Of course, there are times when you can predict the next turn of events. But this does not happen very often.

The special effects are OK, not dated or something. They integrate very well in the unfolding of the plot. The soundtrack is also good, many low frequency noises, kind of electric ones (reminds me of "The Ring").

For a remake of a J horror movie, this one does a pretty good job. Worth watching if you have a couple of hours to spare.

Years ago when Wes Craven was still attached to direct this American remake of the almost perfect Japanese thriller, I was quite excited to see it. Seeing as Craven had never made a bad movie (except for the Hills Have Eyes sequel, which was taken away from him), I thought it would be great. Unexpectedly, the project was canceled when Bob Weinstein thought it was too similar to THE RING and sent Craven to work on the disastrous CURSED instead. Eventually Weinstein found a way to make a cheaper, ultra dumbed down version of PULSE, completely scraping any intelligence left in Craven's original screenplay (he still maintains a writing credit, which Craven says does not reflect his work). The result is one of the top five worst horror movies ever made. A complete and total insult to anyone who pays money to watch it. This made-for-teens only abomination represents everything that is wrong with the horror genre today: over-explanation to the point of aggravation (the producers must think we are brain-dead as an audience), the casting of pop stars instead of actual actors (Christina Milian), and cookie-cutter editing due the number of times the picture was re-edited and re-shot to get a PG-13 rating. Even Kristen Bell, great on "Veronica Mars", seems bored here. You will be too if you make the mistake of watching this. It's ironic that a movie called PULSE doesn't have one. 0/10.

We went to see PULSE yesterday afternoon (got to the theater too late for DESCENT). I have not seen the original KAIRO for comparison. So, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen, and not the best. Yes, it was slow to start and get to the point. But IMO it had a creepy, dark atmosphere (god, if I lived there I'd want to commit suicide in any case), the visuals weren't bad, and it had a few good scares. Unfortunately, it also depended on VOLUME to enhance the scare. If you're more of a gore fan, then it's probably not the movie for you. The movie may not be worth the price of a ticket, but I think it's worth a rental. Eh, I'm just your average moviegoer and don't watch movies to analyze them to death. I even liked The Grudge. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.