Pulse

One reviewer says that the scariest thing about the film is the way the ghosts move. Certainly there is a palable creepiness to those scenes and to the images that appear on computer screens. But I think the most unsettling thing is the lack of sensationalism. Like Kiyoshi Kurosawa's other films, Pulse is a true original in the horror genre, and it deserves recognition as more than just a genre film. With the exception of a few viscerally shocking moments, everything unfolds with a chilling indifference, as if the characters don't realize the seriousness of what is happening to their friends. People disappear and become black smudges on the wall and everyone seems so terribly bored. The effect is completely terrifying, both in retrospect and while watching the film; it drains the viewer emotionally and makes the end of the world feel right around the corner. The apocalyptic vision of the film is one of the most unsettling ever put on the screen. Much of the mood of the film is created by Kurosawa's typical visual techniques, pushed to extremes: lots of deep-focus long shots where individual elements of mise-en-scene are manipulated in single takes, and dull whites and grays making up most of the color palette. Overall, it's a shockingly effective critique on modern loneliness and isolation, and especially the effects of technology. In the end, what matters isn't really that the explanation of the ghosts makes sense, but the way that the characters react to what is happening around them.

If there is a major fault to the film, it's the overly abrupt ending. After a slow burning 100 minutes of build-up, I would have liked to see a more well-paced transition into dystopia on the open seas, and a better introduction to the Koji Yakusho character. And that song at the end credits- HORRIBLE. Almost as inappropriate as the song at the end of "Audition".

I still think "Cure" is his masterpiece (and I hope more people seek it out now that Kurosawa is getting a higher profile in the media), but "Pulse" is the most unique horror film of recent years, and one of the best.