pulse2006

THE SYNOPSIS

College life can be extremely difficult; even more so when your boyfriend kills himself. This is the dilemma that pretty young co-ed Mattie Webber (Bell) faced when her man, Josh (Tucker) seemingly takes his own life. Sadness makes way for weirdness when Josh begins e-mailing her from beyond!

Turns out that the dead are trying to communicate with the living through every technological portal available. Some are even breaking through the barrier into our world. Mattie and her friends Isabell (Millan), Stone (Gonzalez) and Tim (Levine)--who has a crush on her--must figure out what’s going on.

Mattie eventually hooks up computer wiz Dexter (Somerhalder) when he purchases Josh’s computer from his former landlord. Before you know it, the dead have taken Mattie’s friends and are now after them.

They begin their attack on a worldwide scale and sudden;y, the world’s in chaos! It’s up to Mattie and Dexter to battle the ghosts in the machines.

THE CRITIQUE

Based on the 2001 movie Kairo, this Americanized remake capitalizes on the recent trend of J-horror movies such as The Grudge 1 & 2, Dark Water and The Ring 1 & 2. Just as those were not improvements to the originals, neither is this one.

PULSE was definitely a horror movie that I wanted to enjoy, but found it lacking. Part of the blame is to be found in the scripting--co-written by horror deity Wes Craven (director of such horror classics as A Nightmare On Elm Street & Scream 1-3), the underlying message of the script is that technology makes us more and more impersonal, dependent on it and therefore (in a sense), dead to the world.

I get it, I get it! But the movie is bogged down with some cheesy FX and corny dialogue to boot!

After seeing the very effective teasers and trailers for months (and months), I had the pleasure of being invited to a general advance screening of PULSE back in the Spring of 2006. Mind you, not to sound elitist, but I was easily the most-qualified viewer to judge this movie. The rest of the demographically-appropriate 18-24 year olds in the audience with me just wanted to see a free flick! (Yes, they are all cinematic plebians in my opinion! HAH!)

Anyhoo, as helmed by rookie feature film director Jim Sonzero (a hotshot from the advertising industry), the movie succeeds when the dread factor ups itself via the visuals (but not necessarily the VFX) and all-around mis-en-scene. The dude’s got an eye and that’s where the movie shines.

Though I’m not crazy about desaturated cinematography, the washed-out, appropriately-creepy, widescreen-lensing is put to good effect here by director of photography Mark Plummer (Head Over Heels/Albino Alligator/After Dark, My Sweet). It’s too bad that everyone in the movie looks dead before the creepy stuff happens!

Other tech credits (editing, creepy scoring, spartan production design, etc.) are acceptable. Although set in the good old USA, the production was mostly shot over in Romania (yes, the home of Dracula The Impaler).

In front of the lens, the cast is mostly acceptable (and therefore, mostly forgettable)--with the exception of feisty lead Kristin Bell (currently the lead on TV’s Veronica Mars). The lovely lass carries on the long-heralded horror movie tradition of the “good girl” heroine who must take matters into her own hands. And she does, with the help of LOST expatriate Ian Somerhalder--who needs a shave.

As it stands, there are some creepy moments and has a decent conceit. I’m not sure if it was meant for an R-rating and trimmed in post-production--but I do feel that it is weak (and that the movie panders to a PG-13 audience).

THE BOTTOM LINE

Creepy trailer, mediocre results. This one would’ve benefited from a stronger, R-rated version instead of what I saw. Interesting concept waylaid by cheap production values and gimmicky scripting. However, entertaining for what its worth. Just chalk PULSE up to another Hollywood-ized J-horror remake that falls short of its aspirations.

I just hope my Apple computer isn’t really some gateway to the Netherworld, cause my warranty has already lapsed...

CAST: Kristin Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Jonathan Tucker, Rick Gonzalez, Samm Levine, Ron Rifkin

CREDITS: Director: Jim Sonzero; Screenwriters: Wes Craven, Ray Wright; Producers: Anant Singh, Brian Cox, Michael Leahy, Joel Soisson; Director of Photography: Mark Plummer; Production Designer: Gary Matteson; Editors: Bob Mori, Robert K. Lambert & Kirk Morri; Music: Elia Cmiral

AC/AL/V 2006 87m ENGLISH