Watch Pulse For Free

The Age of Commercialism

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

After the death of a friend, a group of college friends find themselves the targets of ghostly beings spread over the internet by logging onto a computer system and must try to survive the freed hordes.This was quite a bland and dull remake. Among the many flaws here is that what happens for the most part simply isn't scary as this one goes against so many different tactics that it never gives off any kind of creepy feeling. This starts with the ghosts themselves, as there's nothing here about what they are, where they came from or even the purpose behind their appearance here which really leaves just an endless series of questions about them. There's only one real piece of information given to this series of creatures about being able to exist on broadbands and wave-lengths emitted from most of modern technology, but that's all we get here as far as going out to mention what they are or tormenting the people here. It's so light on explanations that even that factor alone is given with nearly ten minutes or so left in the film, and it really makes the film really lame by being so unwilling to reveal the truth about its main threat which is needed to score fear against them. It doesn't matter much as the computer-static blue that represents the ghostly figures in the few scenes they're on-screen isn't all that terrifying anyway so the physical appearance doesn't matter much and the explanations are a non-factor which makes the ghosts overall a total sour point. Thais leads into the fact that there's hardly any attacks here which makes this one feel so drawn-out and overlong when it doesn't need to as well as keeping this one focused on areas that don't generate anything as this is mostly focused on an investigation into their friends' behavior and the origins of the beings that turn up nothing so there's simply nothing to these scenes as they just tend to focus on these useless scenes. The last flaw to hold this one down is the bland gray-coloring that flows throughout the film, making for a truly tough time here since that makes this one almost impossible to really get into as it causes this to be bland unappealing and really impossible to watch. That's' more than damaging enough to lower this one, though amidst all this there's a few enjoyable moments. These are deviated entirely around the few ghostly encounters here, from the opening in the library to the startling Laundromat attack and the apartment encounter where the disappear into ash though the big scene here is undoubtedly the final attack in the computer lab where the ghosts are finally freaky-looking in their numbers, the action works and overall the scene is impressive and freaky. Otherwise, there's not much at all to this one.Rated PG-13: Language and Mild Violence.

I first watched this in a cinema while on holiday in Thailand and although I knew nothing about the movie, it looked interesting enough to give it a go and I was not disappointed.A computer hacker unwittingly hacks into the computer of a fellow student who was working on technology to discover alternate frequencies. Unfortunately what he hacked into was also a pathway for spirits and demons to gain access into our world of the living. It sounds like a stupid premise for a film plot, and it kinda is, but for a horror movie it sets a rather interesting chain of events in motion that for me at least, seemed to work.Josh, the computer hacker, is attacked by a spirit and becomes withdrawn. His girlfriend, Mattie, worried about his state of mind, goes to see him. She finds his apartment is unkempt and Josh in a zombie-like state. He walks off and when she goes to look for him she finds that Josh has suddenly hanged himself in the other room. Mattie and her friends start to receive messages from Josh's computer repeatedly asking them for help. This starts her investigation into what he was up to and what has led him to commit such an act.Throughout the movie people start to randomly become withdrawn and display tendencies of no longer caring about themselves or anything around them, including her other friends, until they either suicide or their bodies wither and die leaving nothing but ash. As more and more people end up disappearing the only remedy seems to be to lock yourself away and seal the room with red electrical tape. This has something to do with the colour spectrum and not allowing the spirits to penetrate through that colour.The spirits that find their way through via internet connections, WiFi and any kind of digital signals, prey on the living and literally suck their will to live. Being the spirits of the dead, they seem to draw on the life force of people. The whole things appears to start by way of a viral program that appears on computer screen entitled "do you want to see a ghost". What appears next is a series of images of people that are in a dark and withdrawn state either staring blankly back at the viewer or they are engaged in some form of suicide; and as the movie progresses, you realise that these images are people that have recently succumbed to having their life force drained.Mattie discovers what is going on and with the help of Dex, who had purchased Josh's computer, discover that there was a program developed by Josh that may put an end to the whole thing. Mattie and Dex find the university computer server where it all apparently started and upload the counter virus and the whole system crashes. However after it reboots, the spirits re-emerge and it starts all over again. Their only solution is to get away from the cities and therefore, away from anything that can receive a signal such as mobile phone etc. Essentially this means the world is back in the stone age.Overall I enjoyed this film yet it's not one of those horrors that people will want to see over and over and it did suffer from some inconsistencies which do let it down as they could have been handled better. It's dark, depressing and moody and despite people losing friends and family and multiple suicides happening regularly, people seem to be caught up with their own personal struggle rather than overly worrying or mourning about others. Some people have commented that this doesn't make any sense and the whole movie is stark and lifeless, yet for me it's deliberately allegorical for today's society. How many people do you see these days, with their heads buried in iPhones and iPads, caring more what's happening in the digital world than what's just outside? It's not always noticed when a friend doesn't surface for a few days, so the dark mood and sombre tones are in keeping with the story. Pulse is also the Americanised version of the Japanese film Kairo, which I have since also seen and unlike other awful Americanised movies such as The Eye, I enjoyed Pulse much more than it's Japanese counterpart.There have unfortunately been 2 or 3 sequels to Pulse which were direct to DVD which try to expand on the story, but this was totally unnecessary as Pulse can quite easily be a stand alone film.

I initially watched this movie because of Ian Somerhalder starring in it. I just downloaded it to have seen all his movies and was gladly surprised. The movie IS a successful remake unlike some others, and the cast was great. It wasn't really scary (or maybe I'm just used to scarier things), but it did keep me tense till the end. I have to congratulate the movie makers, especially the director, for the great solutions they have come up with. And it's really good that after all Bell was cast here instead of Dunst, she is much better of an actress and I liked THAT Mattie better next to Dexter. Speaking of, the reason I watched the Pulse was Ian Somerhalder, and I was very glad to see him out of his usual "Look how fun, smart, cool and hot character I am" pose. Hell, that man is good! Not many can so perfectly shift absolutely different personalities we see him play in Pulse, Tournament and Vampire Diaries, and be a completely different person in real life at the same time. Say HE IS GOOD!

SHOJ!!!!!! Watch the special features and you'll get it. Man this movie is retarded. The ENTIRE FILM with only ONE exception (the scene where the girl talks to the dude outside next to his car) is filmed in some stupid colored lighting. Shows that the DP and director have no real vision for this film and that they just wanted things to look dramatic rather than trying to light it in a way that might highlight the point of the scenes or show any kind of progression for the characters during the film.And dude...all the hands???? Do we REALLY need a GIGANTIC FACE MADE OF HANDS AND ARMS!?!??!!? What is the freaking point? It's retarded. My friends and I watched this as a B-movie. It was hilarious. There's no way I can take this movie seriously. Sure Ms. Bell is a super hottie and all (:D), but a cute girl does not a good movie make! In fact this film has almost nothing to do with the original Japanese film. Yeah the plot is similar and all but the pacing is made super fast...as though an American audience can't sit still and watch the movie or something. The writing on this film is awful (thank you very much Wes Craven), as the characters freak out way more than they need to in order to get the point across. The ending is similar but the original is better in every single way. Let's look at the part where the person jumps from the tower as the main character turns around to see. In the Japanese version the person is climbing up the tower, everything's normal. It's also a STILL single shot. When they finally jump you look over and HOLY CRAP, they just leaped out. In the American version we have to FOCUS on the death rather than the main character. The camera is MUCH MUCH CLOSER to the person and PANS DOWN watching the person as they fall. This focuses more on the dead person rather than the horrifying circumstance of the death as witnessed by the main character. In the Japanese version we watch the person die as someone seeing it on the street by chance. In the American version they FORCE you to focus on the person dying.....which is pointless, and retarded.This is just a SINGLE SCENE where this kind of stupid "remaking attitude" comes into play. The entire film is filled with scenes that are similar to the original but much sillier after being redone. Plus, people seem to not only miss the POINT of these original films but also miss the pacing, the actual way that the drama is handled between the characters and the focus (like I mentioned in the last paragraph) is ALWAYS in the wrong place and always for the wrong reasons. There's even a part near the end of the film where the main guy and girl go into a room where this guy taped everything over with red. Well in the original Japanese version of the film they didn't have to cover the ENTIRE ROOM and light everything to look blood red...because they probably thought it'd be stupid...which it is. Anyway, so there's this guy in there who is freaking out. In the original film there's a similar scene (I think, it's been a while since I've seen it) but in that scene he's upset. He's not certifiable. The guy in this version is CRAZY. He goes on and on and EXPLAINS EVERYTHING having to do with anything...as though the audience didn't realize what was happening and for some reason ALSO lacked the mental capacity to put ANYTHING they've seen throughout the rest of the film together. The entire scene is pointless from a writing standpoint. There's no reason to explain every single thing in a horror film. In fact the mystery is often what keeps the film scary, not like this movie had either of those qualities in the first place. We once again turn to Wes Craven. HOW oh HOW can you fall so far Wes? The original Hills Have Eyes from the 70's is a GREAT movie, and now you're churning out this fecal surprise? Did you have some contractual obligation to work on this for some reason? Man, get some talent back dude, cuz you've lost it all.Sadly it's not just THIS remake that does "get it" either. Too many (pretty much ALL of them from the past few years) miss the point, drop the ball, and go left on Awful Avenue straight into Suck City. There's nothing good I can say about this film except that it's REALLY GOOD..........for a laugh...many laughs actually. And that Kristin Bell is a super hottie. Other than that, it's just too funny.I give this film ZERO stars out of FOUR. And on a B-Movie scale I give this film....oh THREE out of FOUR I guess. It's really quite funny with your buddies, just don't expect anything of quality from it. Why am I still typing anything about this terrible movie? What is wrong with me? Why are you still reading!? Either go watch it, and have a laugh or stay away and don't have a good laugh session.