Post by The Butcher on Feb 21, 2006 23:01:56 GMT -5
WARNING - This review may contain spoilors!!
Pulse, A.K.A Kario, is a film that has been out for some time but is just now receiving its official US DVD release. Good thing too, because it’s quite interesting and definitely very creepy. I knew nothing about Pulse going in… Nothing. For all I knew, the storyline could have been about a group of surgeons who get off on taking their patients’ pulses. Man, that sounds like a roller coaster ride of a film! The actual story behind Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse is still a little foggy, which seems to be the director’s intent, for better or worse.
Allow me to explain this tale to the best of my understanding. A group of young adults finds out that their close friend has just strung himself up in his apartment. Up until then, they had always laughed when he claimed to be well-hung… Guess he showed them. Shortly after finding the body, they begin to receive messages from the afterlife through various implements of technology: PC monitors, cell phones, etc. We soon find out that the afterworld, wherever the hell that is, is now officially full. No more vacancy. I guess it makes sense that there would be a long line to gain entry to the afterlife. I mean, people are dying to get in… Hello?? Is this thing on?? Rough crowd… So yeah, there is a lot more to the twisty plot but due to spoilers, we’ll leave it at that.
What I like most about this Asian film is the atmosphere that it brings to the table. I have always been a fan of the written-by/directed-by combo because I like the idea of that one person coming up with the seed of the story and following it through to the end. This “one man show” usually ensures that the creativity, general scope, and integrity of the film will stay intact, as it does in Pulse. The film sets the tone from the opening sequence and holds it throughout and it’s this incredible ambiance that will draw you in with open arms, sweet-talk you a little, love you, hold you, rub you, then grab hold of your mind with both hands and completely fuck the living shit out it, which brings me to my next point…
Pulse is not the kind of horror film where a maniac emerges from the woods with only a pitchfork and that uncontrollable urge to dispatch horny teen bimbos, one after the other. Most of the scares in this film simply involve shadows and that is what works the best for me. Think about it. If you were to see a ghost in real life it probably wouldn’t resemble the usual horrific, bloody apparitions that most “studio” films depict. Kiyoshi Kurosawa keeps it subtle and that realistic approach blends beautifully with the unnerving ambiance, which has already seduced you, sucked you in, smacked you around a little, and left you with a trickle of piss running down your leg. I feel that ghosts do exist in our reality and, for that reason, I felt that Pulse really hit home. If there’s anything that scares The Butcher, it’s the spirit world. I mean… uh… I still eat spirits for breakfast but… uhhh…
The score and general sound design in Pulse is very impressive and it contributes a lot to the foreboding atmosphere. Each scene is approached in a unique way with respect to the sound design. Certain scenes are scored with the traditional eerie strings while other scenes only contain “odd” sound effects similar to that of a baby crying that has been slowed down to a quarter of its original speed. Then other sequences, (the more effective ones in my opinion) literally drop all sound completely. We hear nothing for a minute flat which is a very interesting and effective approach.
The cinematography is very simple yet also very effective. In one sequence, we have a man standing at the end of a darkened hallway. He turns around to see a shadow standing at the opposite end, idle, just watching him as it eventually begins the slow, unnerving journey towards the man. This is about the point in the film when I had to clean the shit out of my pants. It works brilliantly because the camera stays put without cutting for a few minutes. Yes, less is more, people.
My only qualm with this shadowy tale is the script. There is clearly more going on than ghosts haunting people through technology. We have a social commentary in respect to technology itself and how it is only forcing us, the human race, further apart, creating a more lonely and bleak future. I really love the idea of a horror film having this kind of scope but I would have liked more attention paid to the details. Honestly, at times it feels like the script was written during production and no one kept track of the previous scenes or where the film was going as a whole. I love movies that leave the viewers with a plate full of questions but a buffet is a little too much.
Overall, Pulse is known to be one of the scariest films ever and I’ll have to agree. Honestly, my pulse was racing during a few sequences and that hasn’t happened since 1985 when I got caught with a dead hooker in my drunk and a bag of blow. However, not everyone will have the same response that I did because it’s all about the ambiance. If you’re not emotionally vested in this world and its ominous shadows, then I guarantee that you’ll find yourself begging for a bottle of sleeping pills. If you do end up watching this film, you must watch it with no distractions, not even a fart you mother fucker! Just sit it in the dark and allow yourself the pleasure of being truly scared.
Pulse, A.K.A Kario, is a film that has been out for some time but is just now receiving its official US DVD release. Good thing too, because it’s quite interesting and definitely very creepy. I knew nothing about Pulse going in… Nothing. For all I knew, the storyline could have been about a group of surgeons who get off on taking their patients’ pulses. Man, that sounds like a roller coaster ride of a film! The actual story behind Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse is still a little foggy, which seems to be the director’s intent, for better or worse.
Allow me to explain this tale to the best of my understanding. A group of young adults finds out that their close friend has just strung himself up in his apartment. Up until then, they had always laughed when he claimed to be well-hung… Guess he showed them. Shortly after finding the body, they begin to receive messages from the afterlife through various implements of technology: PC monitors, cell phones, etc. We soon find out that the afterworld, wherever the hell that is, is now officially full. No more vacancy. I guess it makes sense that there would be a long line to gain entry to the afterlife. I mean, people are dying to get in… Hello?? Is this thing on?? Rough crowd… So yeah, there is a lot more to the twisty plot but due to spoilers, we’ll leave it at that.
What I like most about this Asian film is the atmosphere that it brings to the table. I have always been a fan of the written-by/directed-by combo because I like the idea of that one person coming up with the seed of the story and following it through to the end. This “one man show” usually ensures that the creativity, general scope, and integrity of the film will stay intact, as it does in Pulse. The film sets the tone from the opening sequence and holds it throughout and it’s this incredible ambiance that will draw you in with open arms, sweet-talk you a little, love you, hold you, rub you, then grab hold of your mind with both hands and completely fuck the living shit out it, which brings me to my next point…
Pulse is not the kind of horror film where a maniac emerges from the woods with only a pitchfork and that uncontrollable urge to dispatch horny teen bimbos, one after the other. Most of the scares in this film simply involve shadows and that is what works the best for me. Think about it. If you were to see a ghost in real life it probably wouldn’t resemble the usual horrific, bloody apparitions that most “studio” films depict. Kiyoshi Kurosawa keeps it subtle and that realistic approach blends beautifully with the unnerving ambiance, which has already seduced you, sucked you in, smacked you around a little, and left you with a trickle of piss running down your leg. I feel that ghosts do exist in our reality and, for that reason, I felt that Pulse really hit home. If there’s anything that scares The Butcher, it’s the spirit world. I mean… uh… I still eat spirits for breakfast but… uhhh…
The score and general sound design in Pulse is very impressive and it contributes a lot to the foreboding atmosphere. Each scene is approached in a unique way with respect to the sound design. Certain scenes are scored with the traditional eerie strings while other scenes only contain “odd” sound effects similar to that of a baby crying that has been slowed down to a quarter of its original speed. Then other sequences, (the more effective ones in my opinion) literally drop all sound completely. We hear nothing for a minute flat which is a very interesting and effective approach.
The cinematography is very simple yet also very effective. In one sequence, we have a man standing at the end of a darkened hallway. He turns around to see a shadow standing at the opposite end, idle, just watching him as it eventually begins the slow, unnerving journey towards the man. This is about the point in the film when I had to clean the shit out of my pants. It works brilliantly because the camera stays put without cutting for a few minutes. Yes, less is more, people.
My only qualm with this shadowy tale is the script. There is clearly more going on than ghosts haunting people through technology. We have a social commentary in respect to technology itself and how it is only forcing us, the human race, further apart, creating a more lonely and bleak future. I really love the idea of a horror film having this kind of scope but I would have liked more attention paid to the details. Honestly, at times it feels like the script was written during production and no one kept track of the previous scenes or where the film was going as a whole. I love movies that leave the viewers with a plate full of questions but a buffet is a little too much.
Overall, Pulse is known to be one of the scariest films ever and I’ll have to agree. Honestly, my pulse was racing during a few sequences and that hasn’t happened since 1985 when I got caught with a dead hooker in my drunk and a bag of blow. However, not everyone will have the same response that I did because it’s all about the ambiance. If you’re not emotionally vested in this world and its ominous shadows, then I guarantee that you’ll find yourself begging for a bottle of sleeping pills. If you do end up watching this film, you must watch it with no distractions, not even a fart you mother fucker! Just sit it in the dark and allow yourself the pleasure of being truly scared.