Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

SnoopyStyle Michi Kudo finds his friend committing suicide. The group is haunted by spirits in the computer. Ryosuke Kawashima signs up to an ISP and becomes haunted by the ghostly internet.This Japanese ghost story follows a long tradition from the far east. I was expecting more. It's a slow grind even if it has some good atmosphere. There is one and a half great horror scene but it is not enough for me. It's hard to care about the characters. An internet ghost world could be something amazing but the visual horror is limited. Other than a couple of cool visuals, I can leave most of this film. It's also two hours long and some of it drags too much for my liking.

bwilkening I think I saw this film mentioned in of those many "Scariest Movies You've Never Seen" lists that always seem to circulate around Halloween time. The plot sounded interesting, so I decided to check it out. If one had to describe a plot, it starts with a teenager who kills himself in a creepy fashion, and how his death affects his coworkers and friends. Each of this small group of young adults starts to experience strange occurrences.All of this is tied together with the emergence of a new phenomenon called the internet (remember, this was released in 2001). In a separate side story that eventually intersects with the characters mentioned in the first paragraph, a young man is excited to be installing his internet software and connecting his dial up modem for the first time, but when he finally connects, his computer seems to be a portal into rooms populated by creepy half human/ghosts. He seeks to advice of a computer science student, and together they try to figure out what is going on while being drawn further into the mystery.The film is obviously pushing in a not so subtle way a message about how technology and the internet are making us more isolated and lonely, to the point where the line between people and ghosts is blurred. Even though the message is not subtle, it is effective, and story delivers some genuinely creepy and disturbing scenes in exploring that message. As many other reviewers who are much more familiar with Japanese horror than I am have mentioned, this genre of horror is less interested in quick and instant payoffs than in gradually building a sense of dread.I deducted a couple of stars because I felt the running time could have been shaved a bit without much loss of effectiveness, and because I shared the concerns some other reviewers have mentioned about how the ending felt disconnected from the earlier parts of the film. But I'd still recommend it. Even though the internet technology displayed in this film feels extremely outdated already, the film's message is still relevant, and it left me with a lingering sense of dread and creepiness that endured even after the movie had ended.

SeeMeBeCB I am writing this review because I'm too scared to walk to my room and get in bed.This movie is terrifying. It's slow, but keeps you completely engaged the entire time. The plot is confusing, but adds to its appeal. It's open to interpretation, which I like in a movie. I don't want everything laid out. Where's the mystery in that? You don't realize what's happening until it creeps up on you very, very gradually. You think you have the movie pinned, then you start questioning what's going on. Everything feels wrong, out of place, and extremely dreadful throughout. You won't like how you feel, but you'll want to see it through anyway.If you like plot-driven movies where there's a place for everything and everything in its place, so to speak, this one's not for you. This movie's focus is atmosphere and pure psychological terror, not logic.There's definitely some social commentary in this one. It's a thoughtful film and for being low-budget, the special effects are well-done. You'll be thinking about what this movie means to you.I really want to warn everyone who is considering watching this- it will haunt you. The ghost images are NOT your everyday American shock-fest. They will burrow into your psyche and live there, probably for a long time. And they are not pleasant.I honestly almost wish I hadn't seen this movie...

Dan Ashley (DanLives1980) Not to be mistaken with the empty and misdirected Aphex Twin video-styled American remake, the original Pulse is one of the creepiest films ever made. It's one of those horror films that catches you off guard by first coming across as an orthodox kind of ghost story before taking you way beyond the barriers of abnormal and just outright chills you to the bone.Japanese University students happen upon a phenomenon of student suicides triggered by something on the internet. Considering that Japan is rife with suicide amongst the young, this becomes the theme for much of the film.Lives become entwined when the close friends and family of the leads either disappear off the face of the earth or go on to kill themselves as the vastly overpopulated city they live in quickly becomes the loneliest place on earth, but then it becomes a global phenomenon.The few people left go about their lives regardless, getting lonelier by the day as the city becomes a haunting ground for the dead but it isn't long before they discover that somebody used the internet to find a way to look into the afterlife, which started the phenomenon. In a desperate race against time, the survivors look for a way to survive even though their will grows weaker every day as the haunting ghosts of the passed away quickly come to outnumber the living.Kiyoshi Kurasawa makes a point of living being no better than being dead if you become lonely enough. When the dead reach out to their victims, it isn't death that takes them but the loss of their will to live in loneliness when life becomes defeatist. By the characters' refusal to let their loved ones go and the refusal to see death as a tangible threat or something that exists where it shouldn't, they repel death although they don't want to live in this world anymore.Not only is loneliness unacceptable to the young, they cannot face the fact that in life, it comes to consume us all at one point sooner or later and so it seems to be about the fear of losing one's soul and identity to a life worse than death.The film takes its time in delivering the story and the shocks like a true ghost story and the little chills sometimes work the best or at least help to deliver the creepiest moments in film history. There's something about Japanese acting that sets you up for every moment realistic or absurd. It's all so well delivered and even if you're reading from subtitles, the point is put across in all devastating simplicity, making Pulse not only a creepy horror but also a tragic drama of epic proportions.The scenes of the city streets deserted and looking war torn when civilisation has simply vanished deliver some of the most impacting scenes in film and I guarantee that after this film you will be left feeling haunted.No cheap thrills, Pulse works hard to get into your mind and deliver an important message at the same time!