So much average

The acting in this movie is really good.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

If you check out other reviews for the U.S. remake of the Japanese horror film 'Pulse' you'll see that the majority of people hated it. And I can see why. The first time I watched it I wasn't interested to begin with. It came across as your regular slasher film, only with computer ghosts stalking and killing teenagers instead of a physical killer.Then there were the - obvious - similarities to the (far superior) Ring. However, I thought it actually picked up a bit of pace in the second half. Once the more 'apocalyptic' side of the story takes over then there are a few nice moments.If you have high expectations for this film, then you'll definitely hate it. However, if you're just looking for a (slightly) better than average horror flick then give it a go. Acting - average. Plot - average. Special effects - average. Yet, somehow, if you're in the right mood, you may give it that extra 'mark' to turn its rating from a 6 to a 7/10.

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of events in motion that for me at least, seemed to work.Josh, the computer hacker, is attacked by a spirit and becomes withdrawn.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.

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.

This movie is about a computer freak who, by accident, stumbles over something on the net, that has a life of it's own.I thought about to turn it off after about 20 minutes but my wife insisted to go on with it. I'm glad I did. I see many many movies, not professionally, just for fun, but I'm not easily scared and I have a good taste in movies. This movie gave me some really great creeps!! Sometimes the pace is a bit slow but the very, very, good artwork and the great scares make it worth your while. The atmosphere is great. The artwork might be to much for some people, it might not be what you expect. I think this is the kind of movie where in about ten years everybody says it's a classic.If you like movies like The Ring or Silent Hill, I think you will like this one, it has many elements of both movies.