Pulse

While I know such a comment isn't a particularly effective means of video or literary analysis, I must say I really enjoyed Pulse (Kairo). I found the film very tense; I was on pins and needles for a majority of the film. What really pleased me about this film was the successful balance between suspense and payoff. A major flaw with many horror films (American and otherwise) is that they have difficulty balancing elements of suspense and the payoff moments where the monster or antagonist is revealed. I found both the suspense and the moments where the ghosts were revealed very frightening. Particularly the scene in which a female ghost slowly walks up to one of the survivors, I found it balanced nicely between suspense and visceral thrill; the scene had no gore, and yet still managed to be frightening due largely to unnatural character movement.

Another aspect of this movie that I found particularly effective was the believability of the events that transpired. Most horror movies involve a single or group of survivors or protagonists being pursued by a single or small group of villains; this film however, pits the entire populace of the dead against the living; the end result is the rapid destruction of all living things by either self destruction or murder by the hands of the ghosts. I honestly can't remember if this happened in the American or Japanese adaptation, but one thing that really stuck out for me was how the filmmaker portrayed the death of humanity. Instead of fire, explosions and chaos, the end of mankind ended in pulse with a silent helpless despair, wherein suicide took just as many lives as the ghosts. Instead of showing solely the deaths, this movie showed the results; gradually dwindling numbers of students in class, the slowly emptying population visible on the streets. For some reason this portrayal of the end of the world made much more sense to me; the silent, remorseful demise of life made it seem that much more believable. Coupled with the explanation (technology inviting our demise), made Pulse's apocalypse almost appear plausible. I think I might go and stock up on red duct tape right about now.....