Pulse (2006)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

So much average

I'll tell you why so serious

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

If you are a (horror-)genre-fan then a screening is entertaining, but do not expect too much. Mostly, it's style over substance.The visual effects are good, but not outstanding. The main weak point is the story. The story is - compared to the US-"Ring"-Remake - much weaker, more illogical, confusing and much more worse explained. So, mainly, it lacks a new, genuine idea which could lie beneath the horror. The ghosts and attacks are scary, but unfortunately the background is not, it's just not profound enough.I must say that I'm not a particular fan of Kristen Bell. She is okay in the role, but I'm not enthusiastic about her. The other actors are okay, too.Maybe the alternate ending/deleted scene on the DVD can compensate for the weaknesses of this movie, at least a bit.

Josh Ockmann is attacked in the library. His girlfriend Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell) finds him in a disturbing state at his apartment and then he hangs himself. After getting mysterious computer messages, her friend Stone (Rick Gonzalez) goes to shut down Joss's computer but it's already taken. Stone is attacked just like Josh. The landlady sold Dexter McCarthy (Ian Somerhalder) the computer. Josh had sent Mattie 3 rolls of red duct tape 2 days before he died. The rolls are split up between Mattie and her friends Izzie Fuentes (Christina Milian) and Tim (Samm Levine). There is an epidemic of suicides in the area.The movie is saturated with the color blue. Along with the Eastern European location, this drains the life out of the movie. It tries quite a few jump scares. Mostly, they don't work because the story is lifeless. The other problem is that the spirits come out of nowhere randomly. It actually gets a bit boring.

If you check out other reviews for the U.S. remake of the Japanese horror film 'Pulse' you'll see that the majority of people hated it. And I can see why. The first time I watched it I wasn't interested to begin with. It came across as your regular slasher film, only with computer ghosts stalking and killing teenagers instead of a physical killer.Then there were the - obvious - similarities to the (far superior) Ring. However, I thought it actually picked up a bit of pace in the second half. Once the more 'apocalyptic' side of the story takes over then there are a few nice moments.If you have high expectations for this film, then you'll definitely hate it. However, if you're just looking for a (slightly) better than average horror flick then give it a go. Acting - average. Plot - average. Special effects - average. Yet, somehow, if you're in the right mood, you may give it that extra 'mark' to turn its rating from a 6 to a 7/10.

Pulse is a movie with a point. Almost a fable. The moral of Pulse is not to mess around with things you don't understand.Pulse has fairly decent pacing, and is more creepy/psychological than shock-horror, which I appreciate in today's torture-porn infused horror scene.While some parts of the movie are slightly unrealistic, in an Amazing Spiderman "no computer nerd uses Bing!" kinda way, for the most part the movie actually has the actors respond in a realistic way to what is happening. When a friend dies they are clearly emotionally disturbed, in a much more believable manner than throwing their hands in the air and screaming. When a static-infused computer-thing comes out of the computer screen, they don't sit there and try to talk to it or touch it, they get the heck out of there! All in all, I actually enjoyed this movie. The premise is good, the music rather unremarkable, the explanation of things is vague enough that I feel they didn't give it all away and ruin the terror, but I can see why people might have an issue with the ending, although I felt it was okay.