← Back to Reviews
in
Ghosts are entering our world. They're trying to escape the emptiness of the afterlife, but end up bringing with them so much despair that the living kill themselves.
Pulse tries to be more than a horror film as it deals with depression and suicide. Two heavy themes to be looking at through a genre that usually gets made fun of. Yet Pulse manages to look inside these two elements with a careful hand. It forgoes the "SCARY" and strives for something more, offering the viewer an elevated art form. It also dives into how much of a cultural impact technology is having on the social structure. We are all connected, but we've never felt more apart. This still rings true today with things like Facebook. I personally have hundreds of friends on facebook, but if I would delete the ones I never talk to, or don't even consider my friends, that number would be much smaller. Technology on the surface looks to be bringing us together, but it is actually tearing us apart.
That's all good, but this is a Horror HoF and I felt like Pulse had no pulse. Now, there were some genuine moments that are uneasy, specifically when we see images of people walking awkwardly towards us, or the two words Help Me over and over again with no clear visual representation of who or what is saying this. These elements work, but the film is almost 2 hours long and these moments are few and far between.
It doesn't help that Asian horror films are working on another level when it comes to acting. The over the top performances in a lot of these movies take me out of the moment. One scene in particular is when one character climbs over a couch to get away from the oncoming ghost, only to scream when she reaches over the top. This scene was only half affective. The ghost part was great, works really well, his response to the ghost wasn't. Also, some of the funniest rear view projection for driving I've ever seen. Those bus scenes are so laughably bad.
Some shoddy effects hurt the picture too and when dealing with technology as much as this film does, you can feel that it is dated. I recently watched Friend Request, which deals with witch craft and the internet and I mentioned how the digital horror scene doesn't really work for me. Pulse is one of the better attempts.
Pulse
Ghosts are entering our world. They're trying to escape the emptiness of the afterlife, but end up bringing with them so much despair that the living kill themselves.
Pulse tries to be more than a horror film as it deals with depression and suicide. Two heavy themes to be looking at through a genre that usually gets made fun of. Yet Pulse manages to look inside these two elements with a careful hand. It forgoes the "SCARY" and strives for something more, offering the viewer an elevated art form. It also dives into how much of a cultural impact technology is having on the social structure. We are all connected, but we've never felt more apart. This still rings true today with things like Facebook. I personally have hundreds of friends on facebook, but if I would delete the ones I never talk to, or don't even consider my friends, that number would be much smaller. Technology on the surface looks to be bringing us together, but it is actually tearing us apart.
That's all good, but this is a Horror HoF and I felt like Pulse had no pulse. Now, there were some genuine moments that are uneasy, specifically when we see images of people walking awkwardly towards us, or the two words Help Me over and over again with no clear visual representation of who or what is saying this. These elements work, but the film is almost 2 hours long and these moments are few and far between.
It doesn't help that Asian horror films are working on another level when it comes to acting. The over the top performances in a lot of these movies take me out of the moment. One scene in particular is when one character climbs over a couch to get away from the oncoming ghost, only to scream when she reaches over the top. This scene was only half affective. The ghost part was great, works really well, his response to the ghost wasn't. Also, some of the funniest rear view projection for driving I've ever seen. Those bus scenes are so laughably bad.
Some shoddy effects hurt the picture too and when dealing with technology as much as this film does, you can feel that it is dated. I recently watched Friend Request, which deals with witch craft and the internet and I mentioned how the digital horror scene doesn't really work for me. Pulse is one of the better attempts.