SusannahPulse
August 20th 2006 00:45
Also receiving the Hollywood treatment with the imminent release of a remake is Pulse from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (yes he is the grandson of The Kurosawa). Although in some respects it follows along the lines of other Japanese horror outings, it is also a markedly different film from the likes of Ringu (The Ring) and Ju-on (The Grudge).
Where the point of Ringu was to create a creeping sense of dread and inevitability, and the point of Ju-on just to scare people senseless, Kurosawa uses the conventions of Japanese horror as a starting point with which to explore loneliness and isolation in modern society.
The film begins with a death and the discovery of a creepy website that asks the viewer if they wish to see a ghost. We are introduced to several characters who gradually discover that the realm of spirits has become full, thus forcing new entrants to inhabit the world of the living. As the characters discover forbidden rooms and come to face to face with the dead, they realise that the objective of the ghosts is to trap people within a realm of their own loneliness and despair from which there is no escape. Victims give in to despair, ending their lives or simply vanishing, leaving behind inky black stains in the outline of people.
Kurosawa uses a horror plot to demonstrate how modern technology, instead of bringing people closer together, has allowed individuals to become more disconnected than ever, thus leaving people vulnerable to succumbing to the despair that the ghosts bring.
Whereas the original is a thought-provoking drama about isolation, the American remake which, worryingly, involved no input from Kurosawa, looks to be a run-of-the-mill horror aimed at teens and starring that chick from Veronica Mars, and the guy they killed off in Lost. See the original before it is too late.
Where the point of Ringu was to create a creeping sense of dread and inevitability, and the point of Ju-on just to scare people senseless, Kurosawa uses the conventions of Japanese horror as a starting point with which to explore loneliness and isolation in modern society.
The film begins with a death and the discovery of a creepy website that asks the viewer if they wish to see a ghost. We are introduced to several characters who gradually discover that the realm of spirits has become full, thus forcing new entrants to inhabit the world of the living. As the characters discover forbidden rooms and come to face to face with the dead, they realise that the objective of the ghosts is to trap people within a realm of their own loneliness and despair from which there is no escape. Victims give in to despair, ending their lives or simply vanishing, leaving behind inky black stains in the outline of people.
Kurosawa uses a horror plot to demonstrate how modern technology, instead of bringing people closer together, has allowed individuals to become more disconnected than ever, thus leaving people vulnerable to succumbing to the despair that the ghosts bring.
Whereas the original is a thought-provoking drama about isolation, the American remake which, worryingly, involved no input from Kurosawa, looks to be a run-of-the-mill horror aimed at teens and starring that chick from Veronica Mars, and the guy they killed off in Lost. See the original before it is too late.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The new version by Jim Sanzero looks unimpressive.