{"id":15596,"date":"2017-07-07T10:45:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T17:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=15596"},"modified":"2017-07-13T23:42:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T06:42:39","slug":"review-pulse2001-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/07\/review-pulse2001-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Pulse (Kairo) BD + Screen Caps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Pulse<\/em> <\/strong>(aka Kairo<\/em><\/strong>) is one of the best J-Horror films I\u2019ve seen perhaps only behind Ringu<\/em>, with its unsettling atmosphere and absolutely creepy-as-all-hell, not to mention disturbing, scenes. It\u2019s also a thought-provoking film which, albeit dated with its technology, still applies today.<\/p>\n

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Pulse
\n(Kairo)<\/span><\/span>
\n(2001)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Horror, Supernatural
\nArrow Video | NR \u2013 119 min. \u2013 $39.95 | July 11, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 07\/07\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Kiyoshi Kurosawa
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Kiyoshi Kurosawa (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Kurcume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Interviews, Promotional Material
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray, DVD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>Japanese (PCM 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>45.7 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Portions of this was copied from my original 2006 review:<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath was eternal loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I first watched Kurosawa’s Pulse<\/em><\/strong> (or Kairo<\/em><\/strong>), I was scared, moved and confused all at the same time. On the one hand, I get the message of human connections and the role the Internet plays in tearing us apart… and pushing into loneliness. If you’re like me — someone who doesn’t see too many Asian flicks –, you’ll no doubt be lost as I was at times. However, in the end, I did “get” enough to find the film to be disturbing and sad.<\/p>\n

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Kurosawa’s Pulse<\/em> is an interesting and low-key horror-thriller which also contains a certain sadness beneath it which, although doesn’t completely pull the viewer in, is still compelling to a certain degree.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that as a reviewer who is still new to the Japanese-horror genre, I didn’t really follow the plot (I also no doubt missed several cultural references such as the color red), but I will try to give a broad description: several twenty-somethings whose lives are changed after a friend commits suicide and strange things happen when ghosts supposedly haunt them from the internet. This, as some surmise and I agree, is the director’s views of the World Wide Web where even though we “talk” on the Web, the more we do so, the more we lose human contact. In any case, as the movie goes on, more and more people begin to “vanish” and we’re left with one of the more haunting tales I have witnessed.<\/p>\n

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Since the film is subtitled and is spoken in a language I can’t understand, it is a bit futile to judge the acting skills. I can say, however, it seemed the primary players (played by Kato, Aso and even Arisaka) provided good emotion to their parts. The direction by Kiyoshi Kurosawa is tense at times, but not very scary in the least. Also, I found the picture as a whole to be too dark, not in terms of subject, but literally. 2017 UPDATE: <\/strong>Though watching it on Blu-ray, those scenes that were too dark seemed to be rectified…<\/p>\n

Outside of some of the more technical aspects and language barriers, I still found Pulse<\/em> to be a nice human story and a warning about the Internet and how more and more use it as their basis of communication. Pulse<\/em><\/strong> was actually released elsewhere around the world in 2001 so it is a few years old, but the message holds even more true today.<\/p>\n

Overall, it is difficult for me to tell you whether or not you’ll like it. As a novice for Japanese-horror, I enjoyed it despite its depressing nature. The story itself kept me at least semi-captivated and the apocalyptic mannerism seems relevant. On a side note I noticed that, sadly, as with The Grudge<\/em> and The Ring\/Two<\/em>, there is an Americanized version headed for theaters in ’06… which, based on the casting, I doubt it will reach any kind of emotional level or send a message and instead will be a PG-13 horror flick with the emptiness or loneliness those characters in this one felt.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This release comes with a 20-page booklet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n