Cover Art

Credits

Director: Jim Sonzero Starring: Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Rick Gonzalez, Jonathan Tucker, Samm Levine, Jeremy Guskin Screenplay: Wes Craven, Ray Wright Music: Elia Cmiral Tagline: There are some frequencies we were never meant to find. Country: USA

Collegiate life for spunky Mattie Webber (Kristin Bell) takes a turn for the bleak when her computer hacker boyfriend hangs himself with an Ethernet cable after encountering some sort of ghostly entity in the campus library. Shortly after his demise however the deceased BF begins sending Mattie and her friends messages via the internet, prompting her to dig around for answers. Soon she is haunted by strange visions, and her friends – not to mention random strangers – begin to develop inky skin infections which eventually lead to bad things like depression, paranoia, and the desire to throw one's self off of high rise water towers, and after hooking up with computer expert Dexter (Ian Somerhalder) the pair discovers that the cause of this eccentricity seems to be a computer virus which has unwittingly been released, allowing malevolent forces to sneak into our world using the technological devices that have become part of our daily lives.

While Pulse is indeed another bloody remake, Hollywood has a decent track record when it comes to reworking Asian fright flicks. The Ring was much better than the relatively dull Ringu, and even The Grudge – which was essentially a dumbed-down version of the scare-iffic Ju-on: The Grudge – was a satisfyingly spooky experience, so I sat down to watch this Americanization of 2001's Kairo (aka Pulse) with an open mind, and for a while it looked like the film might actually deliver the goods.

For starters, the cinematography and production design are top notch. The entire film has that Se7en-ish 'bleak as hell' look to it, with minimal lighting and grotty sets putting the viewer in a state of unease. Performances from all concerned are good as well, and the special effects are occasionally dazzling, but apart from some unsettling suicide imagery the film is rarely tense or scary. Several soul sucking ghostly attack scenes, complete with an overblown musical score, are monotonous, and the good things in life such as gore, nudity, and profanity are all non-existent. It's safe to say this generic spook flick was made to cater to the widest possible audience, and although the version released on Australian DVD is the same as the US 'Unrated' cut which restores about a minute of footage omitted from the films' US theatrical release, it is still fairly tame and was only given an M rating by the OFLC.

Interestingly, the film was originally due to go before the cameras in 2003 with horror master Wes Craven at the helm, but Dimension canned the project as they feared it was too similar to The Ring. A few years later however, with Japanese remakes scoring big at the box office, the Weinsteins had a change of heart and resurrected the project, but by this time Craven had moved on (although he retains a co-screenwriter credit) and the unknown Jim Sonzero ended up scoring the gig.

Overall, Pulse does have a few good moments and might surprise you on more than one occasion, but as is the case with many remakes, if you've seen the original there's really no need to see this inferior, dumbed-down Americanized retread. It's not a bad film by any means, and at a brisk 84 minutes it is over long before it's outlived its welcome, but the original is much better and those who are intrigued by the premise would do well to check it out before (or instead of) seeing this remake.

Colours are drab, with some scenes painted with such a dull pallet that you could almost think you were watching a black and white feature, but don't adjust your set folks as this was an aesthetic choice by the filmmakers. Be it night or day, indoor or outdoor, Mark Plummer's gloomy photography is re-produced wonderfully here.

Pulse: Creating the Fear is an unexceptional seven minute Electronic Press Kit which features on-set interviews with cast and crew members including Kristen Bell, Jim Sonzero, and Samm Levine, all of whom had a great time working on the film and can't say enough positive things about the director. How sweet.

The Visual Effects of Pulse is a slightly more engaging look at the work which went into creating the films many computer-generated effects, and clocks in at six minutes. Expect lots of green screen footage and interviews with people sitting at computers.

Pulse and the Paranormal (six minutes) looks at Instrumental Transcommunication, which is the process of communicating with spirits through electronic devices. Interviews with paranormal investigators and paranormal "experts" as well as supposedly genuine 'ghostly' screen captures and voice messages suggest the events depicted in Pulse might not be as far fetched as some would think.