15, 90 mins
Pulse is another Hollywood remake of a Japanese horror film that suggests the bottom of the saké cup is being scraped. Based on Kairo (2001), a non-linear tale of suicides linked to a webcam, this has ghosts entering the world through PCs and mobile phones to suck our will to live. Why is anyone’s guess in this attempt to terrify the wi-fi generation.
This was shot in Romania, which explains the preponderance of Soviet-era architecture in what is meant to be Ohio. When not bathing barren urban locations in metallic greys and blues, the film is all loud noises, people babbling in darkened rooms and frantic editing. When yet another deadly spirit appears like a flickering 1960s satellite transmission, the urge isn’t to scream but simply to wave a rabbit-ear antenna to get a better picture.
IAN JOHNS