Director: Jim Sonzero
Writer: Wes Craven, Ray Wright (Screenplay) Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Original Screenplay)
Starring: Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Rick Gonzalez, Jonathan Tucker, Samm Levine, Octavia Spencer, Ron Rifkin
Plot: When their computer hacker friend accidentally channels a mysterious wireless signal, a group of co-eds rally to stop a terrifying evil from taking over the world.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Just Get Anti-Virus Software
Story: Pulse starts by introducing us to a college student named Josh (Tucker) who have the feeling he is being followed and he is searching for Zieglar (O’Neill) before being attacked by a ghost like creature. Next we meet the four other friends including Josh’s girlfriend Mattie (Bell), Isabelle (Milian), Stone (Gonzalez) and Tim (Levine) as they continue to enjoy the college life. All along we get the feeling cell phones, laptops and computers are being over used and clearly being pushed down our throats that it will have an issue you with what finally happens.
When Mattie finds Josh hanging in his apartment the group finds themselves being haunted by a ghost like figure who seems to suck their sole out of their bodies before they finally have to kill themselves. With the more victims dying the more aggressive the ghosts becomes making being near any sort of technology dangerous for everybody as a computer virus seems to be the source of all the problems.
Pulse is a horror film about a computer virus which brings the dead back into the world. This is clearly designed to be a horror film to scare us away from the entire internet and growing technology usage in everyday life, it didn’t work. The film tries to make you guess what will happen next in the story and it really doesn’t offer enough to keep you guessing. Now time for the cliché round, ‘we are safe’ hit by car, attacked by creatures. The ‘my boyfriend just committed suicide but you’re a bad boy I may start a relationship because of our race to survive’. It would be fair to say this is very generic horror that the popcorn horror fan will enjoy but a true horror fans will always complain that the original is better. (5/10)
Actor Review
Kristen Bell: Mattie is our leading lady who is suffering after the suicide of her boyfriend Josh, she is convinced that something is going on but no one wants to believe her as they think she is just grieving. She must fight against an unseen villain and survive the attacks. Kristen does a solid job in the scream queen role but never shines as this isn’t her strongest genre. (6/10)
Ian Somerhalder: Dexter is the bad boy engineer who buys the computer of Josh’s after his death and investigates what Josh may have found on the computer he hacked. Ian does a solid job but doesn’t shine through the role enough. (5/10)
Christina Milian: Isabelle is the best friend of Mattie who tries to support her but really doesn’t get involved enough and just becomes another victim. Christina tries her hands at acting, but really shouldn’t have. (3/10)
Rick Gonzalez: Stone is a hacker friend of the group who tries to investigate what happened to Josh only to become infected and show a very graphic and brutal ending. Rick does a standard job for a supporting character but really isn’t involved long enough to really make the most of his character. (4/10)
Jonathan Tucker: Josh gets attacked in the opening sequences before killing himself for his girlfriend to find. He continues to appear in dreams and it might well be his actions that started the whole virus outbreak. Jonathan does a solid job in a supporting role. (6/10)
Support Cast: Pulse has a supporting cast that really all just become disposable for when the ghosts come through.
Director Review: Jim Sonzero – Jim does give us a basic horror with a couple of good scares but not enough to make you feel constantly threatened. (5/10)
Horror: Pulse enters into the world of horror by introducing the dead coming back to life through computers. We do get a couple of good scares with the laundry room being the top scare. (6/10)
Sci-Fi: Pulse enters us into a future world with the warnings about getting sucked into technology world. (8/10)
Settings: Pulse uses very basic settings in and around a college but never uses anything that stands out. (5/10)
Special Effects: Pulse uses good special effects for the scares showing how the ghosts are virus like making it have a scarier feel to them all. (8/10)
Suggestion: Pulse is one for the horror fans to try, don’t expect too much but the good scares do come off very nicely. (Horror Fans Try)
Best Part: The warning about technology.
Worst Part: Easy scares for the most part.
Kill Of The Film: Stone
Scariest Scene: Laundry room.
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: Has two sequels
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Box Office: $30 Million
Budget: $20 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Tagline: There are some frequencies we were never meant to find
Trivia: Wes Craven was once set to direct, but bailed out, which led the film to be officially canned at one point
Overall: Pulse is a very average horror film with a warning that we never listened too, but most importantly it tries to teach us social interaction is more important that computer conversation.
Rating 
