Pulse: Review By emcmillan

A flu epidemic has broken out. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be much of a big deal. When you couple that with the fact that people are mysteriously disappearing and, the suicide rate skyrockets, then you have the makings for the movie, "Pulse".

Jim Sonzero took a script written by Japanese horror movie director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Wes Craven and created a genuinely creepy world. Mattie Webber, played by Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame, finds herself at the center of a string of bizarre events. Despite the fact that her computer-hacker boyfriend Josh (Jonathan Tucker) has suddenly committed suicide, she still gets cryptic chat room messages and e-mails from him.

After investigating his apartment, the trail of his now missing computer leads her to Dexter McCarthy, played by "Lost" cast member Ian Somerhalder. McCarthy discovers that Josh was more than just a hacker. He had unleashed something dangerous, something that attacks us through our computers, cell phones and PDAs; something that could destroy the world as we know it.

Unlike the recent spate of Japanese horror movies, "Pulse" pretty much makes sense. I would credit Wes Craven with making the story more palatable to an American audience. There is a beginning, a middle and an end, and the set ups all pay off eventually.

The ghosts in the movie are genuinely creepy. Their sudden appearances and strange movements are enough to put an audience on edge. Some of the frights depend on loud noises and musical cues, but there are enough genuinely creepy moments to make it worthwhile.

"Pulse" is a technophobe's nightmare. The idea that the devices that we have come to rely upon can lead to our undoing is a real fear, one that the filmmakers effectively tapped into. It also brings into view the idea that a world-wide super bug can wipe out humanity; that a virus can leap from a computer to the real world.

Though not as good as, "The Ring", "Pulse" isn't as bad as it could have been. Despite a couple of clumsy lines and a pair of characters that exist only for exposition, I'd say that "Pulse" delivers.