Pulse

Pulse was much much more creepy than I was expecting. I admit I thought it would be more like Kwaidan or Uzumaki, but this was one of the best all-around horror films I've seen. It seemed to have elements of The Grudge and The Ring with the creepy black-haired woman and the use of technology acting as a gateway for ghosts. The horror in Uzumaki was silly at best, and any scenes that had the potential to scare were ruined by bad acting and funny lines (even though it was intentional). However, in Pulse there was no relief from the darkness. The story started out darkly with the discovery of the friend who hung himself. Then the theme of loneliness and the idea that death brings eternal loneliness is a very grave message. The lighting helped set the tone as well since pretty much every ghost-scene is in a really dark room or on a darkened computer screen (not to mention it was cloudy outside in pretty much every scene). Even the ghosts seemed to be composed of darkness since they left black spots where they died, and not to mention they were downright creepy! I found it to be the most realistic portrayal of ghosts in any movie that I've seen. One thing that made the ghost scenes creepy was their length. Most supernatural horror films involve jump scenes where a scary face pops up behind some girl in a mirror. I feel like that is the easy way to get scares, but the way Pulse does it is way more scary. The ghosts don't just come out of nowhere. Rather, they slowly creep onto the screen as the human can only stand and watch horrified. It builds incredible tension and is way more effective as a scare device than jump scenes. The scene with the black-haired woman gave me the chills, and I'm not one to be scared easily.

I thoroughly enjoyed Pulse and it joins The Ring and The Grudge as some of my favorite horror movies. Its no coincidence that they are all derived from Japanese horror. I guess I find that style of movie to be better made and way scarier. It was interesting to see the other side of Japanese horror in Uzumaki however. Or at least it was interesting until it just got downright strange....