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Pulse

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign | Horror
Written by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Directed by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 12, 2005
DVD: February 21, 2006
Running Time: 119 minutes, Color
Origin: Japan
Language(s): Japanese (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo, Shinji Takeda, Jun Fubuki, and Shun Sugata
A psychological thriller set in Tokyo.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Bright Future Cure Tokyo Sonata
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Distributor Site Official Studio Site View the Trailer
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Ken Fox
If one masterpiece were to emerge from the recent glut of generally good quality Japanese horror movie, this chilling apocalyptic ghost story from Kyroshi Kurosawa is it.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Kurosawa leaves much of the explanation enigmatic but he fills the film with an eerie emptiness, where suicides erupt out of nowhere and mankind dissolves in an oily smudge of hopelessness, adrift between life and death.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Anita Gates
The most horrifying thing in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's fiercely original, thrillingly creepy Pulse (released as "Kairo," or "Circuit," in Japan) is the way the ghosts move.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's a horror movie for aficionados. But it's also for people who don't usually like horror movies at all, who regard them as cheap, crude and over-obvious.There's nothing cheap or crude in Pulse," a fine, shivery movie about the terror of solitude and emptiness.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Storytelling clarity has never been a Kurosawa strong suit, yet Pulse baffles even under those standards, so it's best to just get on his abstract wavelength and ride the thing out.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Like the best horror movies, it doesn't beat you over the head, splatter you, or fold, spindle and mutilate you. Rather, slowly and subtly, it creeps you out. You may go home and throw out your computer and lock the doors.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Whether you take it as horror show or social commentary (or both), this is sublimely terrifying stuff.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Just know that Pulse possesses the dark art to make your pulse pound and your hair stand on end -- with no cheating.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Pleasantly free of blood and guts, with Kurosawa using instead the mighty power of suggestion to give Pulse an invigorating aura of menace.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Where the average Japanese horror flick is petulant and nasty, Pulse is dolorous, shivery, and surreal.
Read Full Review >Variety Derek Elley
Result is always watchable, occasionally creepy and teasingly pitched halfway between a genre riff and a genuine scarefest.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Neither linear nor overly explained, Pulse completely dispenses with smash cuts, cymbal crashes and other editing tricks of the horror trade.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The film's ideas are provocative, yet vague and unfully formed. It's much like Pulse itself, which is a bit too long, despite several great sequences.
Read Full Review >Empire Kim Newman
While not exactly reaching Ring-levels of terror, it's certainly one for connoisseurs of the weird.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Stina Chyn
A horror film that scares you to insomnia is good in the sense that it succeeds in what it sets out to do.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
With very few strong characters and a great many middle shots, Pulse sometimes plods--it's the price of Kurosawa's restraint and his indifference to structure.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Nothing in the two snail-paced hours of Pulse makes close to a shred of sense?
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
It's arguably more "artful" to move at a snail's pace, but at the risk of tedium?
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Pulse works as a hypnotic meditation on contemporary alienation. Traditional horror fans, however, will search in vain for signs of life.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
It's an apocalyptic ghost story with some eerie images and a surprising turn toward the end, but it bogs down considerably between the good scenes.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
But the big scare scenes seem particularly isolated here, supported by neither the flat characters nor the vague plot.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bob N gave it a9:
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films appeal to me. I am a thinker (I am not saying I am smarter than everyone.) I have thought a lot about the dangerous era we have entered in the past 20 years or so with technology. As Postman and McLuhan pointed out, the recent generations of folks born in advanced countries are the first in history to suffer from information glut. We are boldly going...finish the sentence. There has to be a cost to this technology. This film plays on that realistic fear, the fear of the unkown, the fear of alienation, the fear of technology. This is not a 2001 the computers will kill you fear, this is a deep-seated psychological/spiritual dillema. The film does drag at times, and the characters act annoyingly odd at times as well. The ever present atmoshpere, the ever present ideas, create one of the creepiest and best "horror" films I have seen. Note: I usually hate horror films. They tend to be "shock" films with no dread or horror. Pulse (the Japanese version, not the horrid American version) is a true horror film. There is no comparison with the original and the remake. The remake is horrible and empty of the spirit of the original. Great stuff.
Arsal gave it a9:
Kairo is an utter masterpiece. Nothing less, nothing more. It's not so much as the usual 'jump-because-we-said-so' horror movies being churned out as of late. It's atmospheric, dark, surreal, almost dream-like in some scenes. Recommended to everyone who's sick of blood and guts being spurted at the screen for no reason, and to fans of art-house cinema.
Chad S. gave it a6:
[***SPOILERS***] "Kairo" isn't entirely successful but it's still vastly superior to the remake I saw yesterday. Thankfully, there's nothing pale and naked coming out of a coin-operated laundry machine. In "Pulse", you see the influence of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but in the Japanese original, the source of inspiration is more explicit. It's the 1978 version with Donald Sutherland. What's also interesting is how the ghosts are presented. They're reminiscent of the monoliths from "2001: A Space Odyessy". What ultimately prevents "Kairo", however, from joining the ranks of first-rate J-horror flicks, is a short supply of interesting characters saying interesting things. The two girls who traveled across the Pacific and morphed into Kristin Bell and Kristina Milian are equally wretched, but at least with two storylines, they're not constantly on screen.
Kurt C. gave it a7:
It wasn't so much scary as it was chilling. It brings a fresh viewpoint to the thriller genre that certainly makes you rethink just how dependent we are getting on instant communication. The cinematography is more mood-setting than eerie. Kristin Bell did an excellent job in her first movie roll. I'm looking for to more from her.
Pete H. gave it a1:
Look this film was not made in 2005--it was made in 2001. Because of the errors in this listing, I went to see the horrible american/romanian remake.
Kel R. gave it a9:
This movie seemed like it was made in the 80's or something because of poor clarity. Besides that, and the fact you have to read subtitles, it's astoundingly great. The story of this movie is top notch, and ths special effects will blow you away. Simply put if you LOVE asian horror than you MUST see this movie!
Jonny V. gave it a2:
giving it a 2 is a very generous rating, as it make no sence, and lacked being even remotely scary, a waste of my precious, precious time.
