SunnyHello
Nice effects though.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Jerrie
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Francene Odetta
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
dnlmonaco
One of the problems that cinema of the 1990s and 1980s is that filmmakers and audiences never really knew what they had on their hands. The Exorcist III by William Peter Blatty, for instance, was probably one of the greatest thrillers ever made and yet audiences and Hollywood executives at the time just didn't know what they had. Pulse is another example of a film that came just too early to be appreciated. It's a solid concept and a solid thriller that probably would be a bigger hit today than in the 1980s when there were no cell phones or computer controlled cars because the idea is so much scarier and more real these days. So on the one hand, Pulse suffers from being too early. But on the other hand, it's also not exactly good. When you talk about all the underrated horror gems of the 80s and 90s (Exorcist III, Pumpkinhead, In the Mouth of Madness, The Resurrected, Prince of Darkness, or Event Horizon) Pulse will never make that list because it's just too flawed. Pulse suffers from "Writer/Director disease", where there isn't enough eyes on a single scene or concept to really understand how it works. The idea of making the main character a little kid instead of the step mom (who steals the show) seems like something someone else should've mentioned during pre-production. Certain scenes feel out of place in the film and you can tell that a large part of the movie was left on the cutting room floor. I'm not saying the movie would do better with a longer running time, because in this case the film is tight enough to hang together, but a lot of ideas are picked up and dropped (voices in the wires, a tv set that seems to talk to you, other houses in the neighborhood being infected). All in all, Pulse suffers from being too early and not well defined enough from the rest of the 80s horror pack. It tries very hard to be Poltergeist but the flaws in the script and the direction just can't pull it off.
gwnightscream
Cliff De Young, Joey Lawrence and Roxanne Hart star in this 1988 sci-fi/horror film. This starts with Bill Rockland (De Young), his wife, Ellen (Hart) and neighbors witnessing a man on their street killed in a mysterious accident. Lawrence (Summer Rental) plays Bill's son, David who visits him from Colorado and also gets to know Ellen. Soon, David hears about the accident on the street and starts hearing strange noises in the house at night. He becomes terrorized by an electrical force called, a "pulse" causing the noises. David tries explaining to Bill and Ellen what's happening, but Bill doesn't believe him. Ellen does and fears that the evil force is trying to harm them. After Ellen gets into an accident, Bill starts to believe what's happening and tries to stop the pulse with David's help. I remember this used to be on TV years ago and always thought it was creepy. Jay Ferguson's score is also chilling and I recommend this good 80's sci-fi/horror flick.
jonathan45
This film had great potential but ended up being a mediocre 'X Files episode'. There were interesting ideas about the sentience of machines and technology running amok but these were never fully explored. the acting was slightly above average for a dtv and the director did a good job of injecting an element of mysterious tension to the proceedings. Some elements however, were wasted completely, such as the shots of circuitry melting in to one another in the TV, making connections and forming an intelligence. The idea that appliances we use daily are increasingly getting sophisticated and most of use have little idea how they work and what they could be capable of becoming was mentioned briefly by the TV repair man but frustratingly never matured in to anything. However the decision to make the 'pulse' homicidal for no reason made little sense. Wouldn't somebody in government have noticed this by now ( or were we supposed to believe the patrolling police were 'in on it') and investigated the street?. A better idea would have been a govt 'A.I' got loose and in to the Grid and started growing and learning and developing in to something ...just an idea but they could have done much better with this plot imo.
golbez-1
If this tag line seems familiar to you, it's because it is. It's the famous tag line for "The Amityville Horror". Not much happened in this movie, and yet it's considered a classic. We never, in the movie, understood the full source of evil from Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", and yet it's one of the most horrifying films of the 20th century. Better leave things unexplained, and you'll have a great time. Do the same with "Pulse" and you'll enjoy it to the max. I sure did. I always liked how the movie never explained the source of the evil electricity. It makes things scarier. Once I'll find out, it's like spoiling a movie's ending. As the tag line for "Amityville", one is wondered why the occupants of the house do not leave yet. Well, the answer's simple, and Cliff DeYoung's character clearly showed it in the movie. It's because there's a rational explanation behind all of this. And the house is not entirely paid, they have to sleep there, eat there, and... just a place to sit down and relax. Because if they leave, they will look like crazy people. That's all the movie is about. What makes sense? What is best to do? I keep myself on the edge of my seat seeing for myself as what will be coming up next. "Pulse" is indeed an undiscovered gem. What a shame.