Pulse (2006/I)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Jim Sonzero

Writers (WGA):

Wes Craven (screenplay) and
Ray Wright (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 August 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

You are now infected.

Plot:

When their computer hacker friend accidentally channels a mysterious wireless signal, a group of co-eds rally to stop a terrifying evil from taking over the world.

Plot Keywords:

Technology | Computer | Psychology | Suicide | Epidemic

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Kristen Bell	...	Mattie
Ian Somerhalder	...	Dexter
Christina Milian	...	Isabelle Fuentes
Rick Gonzalez	...	Stone
Jonathan Tucker	...	Josh
Samm Levine	...	Tim
Octavia Spencer	...	Landlady (as Octavia L. Spencer)
Ron Rifkin	...	Dr. Waterson
Joseph Gatt	...	Dark Figure
Kel O'Neill	...	Douglas Zieglar
Zach Grenier	...	Professor Cardiff
Riki Lindhome	...	Janelle
John Burke	...	Newscaster
Mike J. Regan	...	Phantom (as Mike Regan)
Steve Tom	...	Male Newscaster #2

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi terror, disturbing images, language, sensuality and thematic material.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Indonesia:Dewasa | Taiwan:R-12 | Philippines:R-13 | USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (Edited for re-rating) | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U (cut) | Argentina:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | South Africa:16

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Weinstein Company, The

Trivia:

Bob Weinstein canceled the film considering it to be too similar to The Ring.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mattie enters her apartment at the beginning of the movie, she is wearing blue jeans. Then, while reading in bed, she is wearing light brown slacks. During her walk from her bed to Izzie's room, she is wearing the light brown slacks and suddenly has blue jeans on again.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Mattie Webber: We can never go back. The cities are theirs. Our lives are different now. The things that were supposed to connect us to each other, instead connected us to forces we could never have imagined. The world we know is gone, but the will to live never dies. Not for us... and not for them.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Kairo (2001)

Soundtrack:

Delay the Wait

The story really killed this movie

I went to see Pulse knowing it was PG13, so I didn't expect much gore, but couldn't the writer of this story at least have done something more with it?

Pulse is a movie about a hacker who releases a strange computer virus which immediately affects computers everywhere as well as cell phones and even TV screens. We soon find out that the virus is really the dead who have found a way to return to the living world. What they want is the life force of every living being. So it is up to our heroes to try and find a way to stop them before they can consume the entire world.

That's the plot which in my opinion was a rather clever idea. Too bad that the story makes very little sense and is filled with implausibilities that go against the very story that the writer and director were trying to get across. I won't explained these because of the spoilers that would be involved. Of course there aren't many spoilers anyway, since the commercials give much of it away.

The acting was decent, and some of the visuals were nice, but there is very little suspense. This is more of a simple shock film like so many other horror movies that have been filling our theaters for about three years. There is one horror movie that is the exception, and that is The Descent which was released last week. If you want to see one of the best horror movies in the past couple years, go see that one instead and forget about Pulse.