Yet another Hollywood remake of a Japanese psycho-thriller, Jim Sonzero's Pulse deals with malevolent spirits reaching out and touching people (killing them, actually) after a scientific project to increase the spectrum of available radio frequencies goes awry, enabling the baddies to infect computers and cell phones. As in White Noise, Cry_Wolf¸ and other recent thrillers, the source of danger here is electronic gadgetry, with much of the running-time focused on monitor screens and iPods sporting supposedly frightening images and instant messages. But as those other films made clear, this is a recipe for boredom, not scares. Here, the spooky figures emerge from the machines (looking like badly broadcast television programs) and stalk people in order to suck the life force out of them. The first person to meet this dire fate is the boyfriend of college student heroine Mattie (Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell), who soon links up with scruffily handsome Dexter (Ian Somerhalder, Lost) to track down the source of the infestation. Pulse is an extremely silly movie (one of its odd twists is that red duct tape can be used as a barrier against the phantoms) that's also unpleasant to watch—shot almost entirely in the washed out blue-green and gray tones currently favored in Hollywood shockers, and featuring whiplash editing and loud sound effects in place of any real suspense. Ideally, a horror movie should make your heart race, but as it turns out, Pulse barely has one. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Jim Sonzero and special effects makeup designer Gary Tunnicliffe; the other by Mike Leahy and Joel Soisson, costar Samm Levine, visual effects supervisor Kevin O'Neill, editor Kirk Morri, and line producer Ron Vecchiarelli), seven deleted/alternate scenes (12 min.), the “making-of” featurette “Creating the Fear” (7 min.), a six-minute visual effects featurette, a “Pulse and the Paranormal” featurette (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a D.O.A. psychological thriller.] (F. Swietek)
Pulse
Weinstein, 87 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.99, Dec. 5 Volume 21, Issue 6
Pulse
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: