Pulse
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: August 12, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
If one masterpiece were to emerge from the recent glut of generally good quality Japanese horror movie, this chilling apocalyptic ghost story from Kyroshi Kurosawa is it. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Kurosawa leaves much of the explanation enigmatic but he fills the film with an eerie emptiness, where suicides erupt out of nowhere and mankind dissolves in an oily smudge of hopelessness, adrift between life and death. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAnita Gates
The most horrifying thing in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's fiercely original, thrillingly creepy Pulse (released as "Kairo," or "Circuit," in Japan) is the way the ghosts move. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a horror movie for aficionados. But it's also for people who don't usually like horror movies at all, who regard them as cheap, crude and over-obvious.There's nothing cheap or crude in Pulse," a fine, shivery movie about the terror of solitude and emptiness. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Storytelling clarity has never been a Kurosawa strong suit, yet Pulse baffles even under those standards, so it's best to just get on his abstract wavelength and ride the thing out. Read full review
80
L.A. Weekly
Whether you take it as horror show or social commentary (or both), this is sublimely terrifying stuff. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Like the best horror movies, it doesn't beat you over the head, splatter you, or fold, spindle and mutilate you. Rather, slowly and subtly, it creeps you out. You may go home and throw out your computer and lock the doors. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Pleasantly free of blood and guts, with Kurosawa using instead the mighty power of suggestion to give Pulse an invigorating aura of menace. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Just know that Pulse possesses the dark art to make your pulse pound and your hair stand on end -- with no cheating. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Where the average Japanese horror flick is petulant and nasty, Pulse is dolorous, shivery, and surreal. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Result is always watchable, occasionally creepy and teasingly pitched halfway between a genre riff and a genuine scarefest. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Neither linear nor overly explained, Pulse completely dispenses with smash cuts, cymbal crashes and other editing tricks of the horror trade. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The film's ideas are provocative, yet vague and unfully formed. It's much like Pulse itself, which is a bit too long, despite several great sequences. Read full review
60
Film ThreatStina Chyn
A horror film that scares you to insomnia is good in the sense that it succeeds in what it sets out to do. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
With very few strong characters and a great many middle shots, Pulse sometimes plods--it's the price of Kurosawa's restraint and his indifference to structure. Read full review
60
EmpireKim Newman
While not exactly reaching Ring-levels of terror, it's certainly one for connoisseurs of the weird. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Nothing in the two snail-paced hours of Pulse makes close to a shred of sense? Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Pulse works as a hypnotic meditation on contemporary alienation. Traditional horror fans, however, will search in vain for signs of life. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
It's arguably more "artful" to move at a snail's pace, but at the risk of tedium? Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
It's an apocalyptic ghost story with some eerie images and a surprising turn toward the end, but it bogs down considerably between the good scenes. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
But the big scare scenes seem particularly isolated here, supported by neither the flat characters nor the vague plot. Read full review
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