Too much of everything

Admirable film.

Absolutely Brilliant!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Pulse (English title) & Kairo (Japanese title). A film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Impressed with the way he used the internet as the medium to potrays the ghost. And definitely there are no nonsense kind make-up ghosts. Love his drone shots especially in the first scene and last scene of the movie.

Now the more knowledgable ones amongst you may know that Hollywood remade this a few years later after this was originally released in 2001. Do yourself a favour and do not watch it. I repeat: Do. Not. Watch. It. Instead, go out and get the original. A group of young people in Tokyo start to experience strange phenomena including missing colleagues, technological glitches and unusual happenings. As suicide rates increase, three strangers scavenge the city to find answers. This is not your usual J-Horror. Yes, there are ghostly illusions that slowly creep towards the camera (which freaked me the hell out) but beneath this is a central metaphor regarding loneliness. How the utilisations and ever-growing prominence of technology will only serve to isolate us from reality. Exploiting social media and the internet into a horror film was inspired, and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa injected a sense of existential dread within every scene. An incredibly original concept back in 2001 that has clearly inspired many newer small budget horrors (Friend Request, Unfriended etc.). Kurosawa features some haunting cinematography, with the help of Junichiro Hayashi, which really hones in on the horror elements that the film required. I mean, who knew staring at computers and waiting for images to move could be so unnerving!? A few ambiguous scenes, like a website that asks the compelling question: "Do you want to meet a Ghost?" which for the most part work. Seriously though, if you see that...smash the computer with a hammer, burn the remains and bury the ashes. Don't just unplug it! Fools! Unfortunately, the third act loses all intrigue and suspense that the first two acts built, and settles for an apocalyptic tone. Personally, far too grandiose for a story that feels better on a smaller scale. I also felt too disconnected with the main characters, struggled to become invested in them. Having said that, Pulse is a great modern J-Horror and a dark reflection of our growing digital world.

I think I saw this film mentioned in of those many "Scariest Movies You've Never Seen" lists that always seem to circulate around Halloween time. The plot sounded interesting, so I decided to check it out. If one had to describe a plot, it starts with a teenager who kills himself in a creepy fashion, and how his death affects his coworkers and friends. Each of this small group of young adults starts to experience strange occurrences.All of this is tied together with the emergence of a new phenomenon called the internet (remember, this was released in 2001). In a separate side story that eventually intersects with the characters mentioned in the first paragraph, a young man is excited to be installing his internet software and connecting his dial up modem for the first time, but when he finally connects, his computer seems to be a portal into rooms populated by creepy half human/ghosts. He seeks to advice of a computer science student, and together they try to figure out what is going on while being drawn further into the mystery.The film is obviously pushing in a not so subtle way a message about how technology and the internet are making us more isolated and lonely, to the point where the line between people and ghosts is blurred. Even though the message is not subtle, it is effective, and story delivers some genuinely creepy and disturbing scenes in exploring that message. As many other reviewers who are much more familiar with Japanese horror than I am have mentioned, this genre of horror is less interested in quick and instant payoffs than in gradually building a sense of dread.I deducted a couple of stars because I felt the running time could have been shaved a bit without much loss of effectiveness, and because I shared the concerns some other reviewers have mentioned about how the ending felt disconnected from the earlier parts of the film. But I'd still recommend it. Even though the internet technology displayed in this film feels extremely outdated already, the film's message is still relevant, and it left me with a lingering sense of dread and creepiness that endured even after the movie had ended.

My wife and I watch horror movies, with a preference for spooky supernatural horror.This movie was unlike anything else we'd seen, and we talked about it on and off for days afterward. It probably helps if you've seen a LOT of unusual/indie movies -- end-of-the-world stuff like Carriers, The Crazies, Pontypool, or out-there twist supernatural movies like Heartless or Triangle, or zany "horror" movies like Fido, A Barking Dog Never Bites, and Delicatessen. Also mind-bending movies like Primer or just plain nonsensical but modestly disturbing movies like Mulholland Drive.If you enjoy those kinds of movies, and you don't mind not having everything explained or necessarily even "rational", then I think you'll find Pulse to be an _exceptionally_ good ghost story that sticks with you for a long time.Often when I'm sleepy and it's late, I find my thoughts wandering back to the characters, the imagery and the overall premise. It fills me with a strange sense of dread, almost an ache. It's been over a year since I saw the film, and it still haunts me occasionally. I think that's a sign of a pretty good movie.I just wish the film had been less blurry. I watched it on Netflix over a questionable connection, and we don't know to this day whether the film quality was just grainy (maybe on purpose), or if it was due to lossy compression.People have said (rightly) that this is a movie about loneliness. But make no mistake -- it's also a movie about the end of the world, so don't expect it to be a pick-me-up or happy ending.