Pulse Review (2006) Worth Watching?

It's about a group of college kids who have to fight off a deadly supernatural force that uses the internet to infiltrate our realm.

Pulse was directed by Jim Sonzero and stars Ian Somerhalder (from The Tournament), Christina Milian (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again) and Rick Gonzalez (from Emergo).

You are now infected.

Pulse is the American remake of the original J-horror Pulse (Kairo) released back in 2001. Pulse follows The Ring, The Grudge and Dark Water in hopping the pond from Japan to Hollywood. One Missed Call and The Eye hopped over shortly afterward. Every one of these American remakes were PG-13's that relied more on story and special effects than blood, gore or shock. They all also catered to the horror style of their time. So, watching Pulse now might make it come off a bit cheesy and generic, but the style was all the rage back then.

Pulse follows the general story of the original but changes more than a few details in order to fill some of the bigger plot holes and to create a clearer story than the original. I'm a big fan of the original and appreciated the abstract presentation, but its style doesn't make for a very casual viewing experience. The original was deep, depressing and thought-provoking while this remake is more of a casual fun horror flick. Some critics use this as a reason to hate on this Pulse, but I see it as a movie made for its time. Just look at all the other movies that came out during the same year. We got movies like Final Destination 3, Silent Hill, The Grudge 2 and The Wicker Man. The Ring 2 came out the year prior. Going the deep and depressing route would have gone against what people loved back then. For this reason I think this remake of Pulse hit the right tone.

Alright, so if it's not obvious by now, I'm defending this movie from the start because I freakin' loved it and consider it one of my new guilty pleasures. Is it as good as The Grudge or The Ring? No way, not even close. Is there a reason why it was never as popular as any of the other big Japanese imports? Yep! It's not a great horror movie. It's not a scary horror movie. But it's a FUN horror movie. And sometimes fun is better. And the mid-2000's were full of not-great-but-fun horrors. Pulse is one of them.

Pulse was written by Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), stars a bunch of great actors including the legendary Brad Dourif (Child's Play) and features college parties, internet ghosts, haunted suicide videos, cliche computer hackers, supernatural invasions, cheesy special effects and actual armageddon. What's not to love?