 |
| STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
| Unmissable |
|
| Excellent |
|
| Good |
|
| Poor |
|
| Tragic |
|
|
| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
15 | | Cast
Haruhiko Kato
Kumiko Aso
Koyuki
Kurume Arisaka
Masatoshi Matsuo. | | Directors
Kiyoshi Kurosawa. | | Screenwriters
Kiyoshi Kurosawa. | | Running Time
119 minutes |
|
|
|
Pulse (Kairo)
Another bizarre but original - and solid - horror from Japan.
Plot
A visit to a sinister website is the link between a group of young folk who are now experiencing strange and disturbing visions. When one of them commits suicide, they attempt to discover the secret before the fate befalls them. Review
This J-horror epic from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has a Ring-style hook, but it broadens into a vision of the apocalypse. A variety of young folk around a campus chance upon “The Forbidden Room” on the internet, which seems to compel them to commit suicide (in a startling moment, one girl in the background of a long shot jumps off a tall building).
Investigators and victims vaguely hook up, though the point is that — like a computer program that generates randomly moving dots which are attracted to one another but ‘die’ if they get too close — these people are so isolated and socially inept that they don’t have a hope of coping with the haunting. Unsettling and puzzling rather than outright scary, this is as much a bizarro art film as a horror show.
Verdict
While not exactly reaching Ring-levels of terror, it’s certainly one for connoisseurs of the weird.
Reviewed by Kim Newman
Write Your Review
To write your review please login or register.
|
|
|
|
