Pulse
Dimension Films | Release Date: August 11, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
29
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
6
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
To say Wes Craven's rewrite of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 "Pulse" isn't as bad as it could have been sounds like faint praise, but Kurosawa's "Pulse" is one of the true masterpieces of recent Asian horror, and the track record for Hollywood horror redos isn't great. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
American director Jim Sonzero has taken the same campus setting and plot and added some rationale by "science-fictioning" it. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
If Pulse is unsurprising as a horror movie (come on: chalky, soul-sucking freaks again?), as a campaign against the Internet, digital piracy, cellphones, and anything that computes anything (like laptops or brains), it's a riot. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Ultimately, the glacial pace kills Pulse. What was dreadful and trance-like in the original feels here like nothing-much-at-all sandwiched between some stock horror jolts. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
In this American remake of the spooky, more-atmospheric-than-coherent 2005 J-horror thriller, the ghosts blink and crackle into existence with an electromagnetic sputter, but really, they're not so different from the gauzy, see-through spirits of yesteryear. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
A horror film dealing with the terrors lurking via our computers, cell phones and other electronic devices, Pulse isn't nearly as scary as watching your hard drive crash or having your BlackBerry conk out in the middle of a vital call. Read full review
40
EmpireJames Dyer
An unrewarding experience that won't scare you, but might make you think twice before opening email attachments. Read full review
30
VarietyRobert Koehler
A dumbed-down remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's disturbingly abstract Japanese horror film. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNathan Lee
The American version of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Pulse" mimics the plot fundamentals, but lacks any traces of Mr. Kurosawa’s creepy minimalism and conceptual rigor. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The remake begins with the same premise and appropriates the most striking visuals, grafting them onto a more explicable but equally dull George Romero-style doomsday scenario. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Hideously ugly to look at and not even worth following. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Pulse bears more than a slight resemblance to a 1994 American horror called "Ghost in the Machine." They didn't screen that stinker in advance for critics, either. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's not scary, it's not chilling, and it's not interesting. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
Tedious, baffling and ultimately laughable. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Has maybe a half-dozen moderately frightening scenes. Read full review
20
Film ThreatStina Chyn
Laughter erupts during scenes and certain close-ups that were designed to induce screams. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's a curiously dull Americanization of one of the finest examples of subtle, moody J-horror out there. Read full review
10
L.A. Weekly
Here, the CG effects are plentiful, but the scare factor rarely rises above the level of a viral email, and the desaturated color scheme of Sonzero and cinematographer Mark Plummer makes every frame look as though it was developed in a solution of vomit and ash. Read full review
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