Pulse (Unrated) (DVD)
The running time is 1 hr. 28 mins..
A remake of the 2005 Kiyoshi Kurosawa Japanese thriller Kaïro this wannabe centers around the idea that the dead have found a way of entering the world of the living and for some damn reason they want to kill everyone, and they are quite accomplished at this task. Our story centers around Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell) and her group of friends which includes Isabell played by Christina Milian, Stone played by Coach Carter alum Rick Gonzalez and Tim played by Samm Levine. Once their friend mysteriously decides to hang himself a rash of suicides begin to happen all around them and instead of police, detectives or anyone trained in figuring out what is going on Mattie decides it is up to her to get to the bottom of this wreck.
Now, I didn't particularly enjoy the Kurosawa version and I wasn't expecting much here and that is exactly what I got with this mess of poor CGI and silly plot threads. A quick examination if you don't mind. If Kristen Bell is in a bathtub, I don't need to see ghosts in the water... I need to see Kristen in the water... sans bubbles. How many scenes of someone waking with a jerk from a dream do we need? Oh, and what the hell is up with the black and blue haze this film is shot in? Sorry, a school library at five in the afternoon isn't going to be damned near pitch black, and if it is no one is going to go snooping around. They will stop and ask, "Why are the lights off?" Good question if you ask me.
Outside of those complaints, just wait till you get to the scene with Kel O'Neill, who plays computer hack crack pot Douglas Zieglar, it is almost painful to watch. Bell however is a treat to watch, I could watch that girl walk away all day. Too bad that doesn't make this movie any better.
As for special features there is a satisfying group for those interested:
Two Feature Commentaries - The first commentary is with director Jim Sonzero and special makeup effects designer Gary Tunnicliffe and the second is with a whole fleet of producers and effects supervisors. In all honesty this DVD seems to be pushing these effects way beyond their limit. They aren't that great to begin with and to have two commentaries, both of which include effects people is way overboard. It is also a sign that not even the actors thought too much of this film considering they aren't huge names outside of Kristen Bell, and most often times these are the actors that are more than happy to lend their voices to a commentary. Sort of a Stay Alive scenario all over again. Just thought I would mention that here since I didn't mention it there.
Seven Deleted Scenes (12:17) - Outside of the commentaries this is actually the longest and most worthwhile feature of the bunch. I say this for someone that enjoyed the film because these deleted scenes actually expand a bit on a couple of storylines, most notably the Dexter McCarthy character played by Ian Somerhalder. It also includes an alternate ending, which is no better than the original, but at least it is different and isn't treated with the same blue color correction as the film. Damn, this film really might have been a lot better had they not fucked with the color so much.
Creating the Fear: Making Pulse (7:03) - To call this a making-of featurette would really by pushing it. This is a bunch of generic interviews slapped together with some b-roll behind it. Nothing more, nothing less. One interesting tidbit is that the film was shot in Romania and Samm Levine thinks Kristen Bell is a great actress because she can scream in a lot of different ways. Thumbs up Kristen, perhaps Samm will notice next time that you are also extremely hot.
The Visual Effects of Pulse (5:57) - My opinion here has been heard already, and while some of the effects are good and others are so poorly done and obvious none of that matters here as this little special feature isn't all that interesting. Obviously these guys didn't have a major budget so I can't really fault them, but considering the look of the film and the amount of effects you would think they would have tried to scale back a bit on the CG backgrounds and landscapes as much as possible.
Pulse and the Paranormal (4:21) - Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe your friends and family are speaking to you from beyond the grave? Do you see mysterious things in photographs and think they are ghosts? If so this is a featurette for you. If not, skip it, it's a laugh.
Theatrical Trailer - I think you know what this is.
You can probably tell I wasn't too impressed with this pic. However, I will say it isn't horrible. The running time is only 88 minutes so I can't call it a complete waste, and as I already said, Kristen Bell is hot. That helps any picture; it just doesn't make it very good.