Pulse
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Director: Jim Sonzero
Writers: Wes Craven, Ray Wright
Stars: Kristen Bell (Mattie). Ian Somerhalder (Dexter), Christina Milian (Isabelle), Rick Gonzalez (Stone), Jonathan Tucker (Josh), Samm Levine (Tim)
Genre: Remake
Pulse
When Mattie's hacker boyfriend Josh unwittingly releases a virus that allows the dead to contact the living through electronic devices, suicides and devastation follow. When mobile phones ad computers become the enemy, Mattie and her friends must find a way to close the portal before the life is sucked out of everyone..
This is a remake of a 2001 Japanese film, "Kairo" - or rather a 're-imagining' as the luvvies in Hollywood like to suggest (yawn!). Unfortunately I've not managed to get hold of the original to compare this one to, but it's a really good idea which just doesn't seem to quite live up to the premise. A teen-star cast including Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars", "Gossip Girl") and Ian Somerhalder ("Lost" series 1) can't really carry a serious horror. It all comes across as a bit teeny-bopper type superficial. It's a bit of a shame because the idea of the machines becoming the enemy definitely had promise and there are some quite nice graphics going on and some quite disturbing moments. Kudos for a lack of a Hollywood happy ending but generally this is a great idea ruined by an inexperienced cast.
Reviewer - @helen_of_horror
Movie Spoiler - If you want to know the ending of the film.
