PULSE TRILOGY (2006-2008)
PULSE (2006)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby True HD 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Jim Sonzero
Cast: Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Rick Gonzalez, Jonathan Tucker, Samm Levine, Octavia Spencer, Ron Rifkin, Kel O'Neill, Zach Grenier, Riki Lindhome, Robert Clotworthy, Brad Dourif
Pulse a supernatural techno-chiller that's a remake of the 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo, in it a psychology student Mattie (Kristen Bell) is visiting her boyfriend Josh Ockmann (Jonathan Tucker) and notices he's looking unwell. He walks off into another room where he hangs himself with an Internet cable. Soon after she and her friends begin
receiving unsettling e-mails and video messages sent from his account. She tracks down his old computer to a computer hacker Dex (Ian Somerhalder) who bought it off his landlord, and he has found some strange things on Josh's old PC. Together they figure out that Josh had inadvertently hacked an account and unleashed a virus that unlocks a portal to the land of the dead, and now that they have access to the land of the living via the internet and they're influence on internet users saps their will to live, causing a quick spreading epidemic of suicide to plague the campus and beyond. They make contact with the hacker that Josh received the virus from, who tells them that the only way to block out the spirits is to seal up your room with red duct tape, and they find that Josh had been working on another virus that will shutdown the supernatural virus. With that knowledge they plan to find the "main server" and upload Josh's anti-virus, problem solved. The plan does not go as planned and the film ends with radio reports telling people that the Army has established safe zones outside of the cities without internet, cell phone reception or TV signals, to protect people from the spirits. It's been a good long while since I have seen the original Japanese film, but I recall it being much more ambiguous and moody in nature. This is a pretty slick Hollywood remake with lots of digital special effects, but it's not without a couple of effective scares and stylish atmosphere. It has a desaturated blue-tinted look to it that works well enough, with some cool visuals that I found effective if not exactly bowling me over with originality. It's not bad, it's just not great, a straight middle-of-the-road Japanese remake that came after the initial wave of American J-horror remake, falling well below stuff like The Grudge, The Ring and Dark Water, and settling more along the lines of The Eye, for me. Again, not bad, it has some solid atmosphere and creepy special FX, it's entertaining enough, but I don't love it.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Director Jim Sonzero and Makeup Effects Designer Gary Tunnicliffe
- Audio commentary by Producers Mike Leahy and Joel Soisson, Actor Samm Levine, Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin O’neill, Editor Kirk Morri and Line Producer Ron Vecchiarelli
- Deleted / Alternate Scenes
- Creating The Fear: The Magic Of Pulse (7 min)
- The Visual Effects of Pulse (6 min)
- Pulse and The Paranormal (4 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Deleted/Alternate Scenes (12 min)
PULSE 2: AFTERLIFE (2008)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: MA 15+
Audio: English DTS -HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Joel Soisson
Cast: Jamie Bamber, Georgina Rylance, Karley Scott Collins, Boti Bliss, Todd Giebenhain, Lee Garlington
This straight-to-video sequel picks up after the first film and doesn't spend a lot of time re-establishing the events of the first film, but we know that the dead have found a way back to our world - through cell phones and Wi-Fi - and the human survivors have taken to living in remote areas and areas with no internet of cell phone signals to escape the reach of the dead, and that red tape has the ability to block their transmission. In this very low-budget and resource limited sequel a family must venture into the haunted city looking for their missing daughter while avoiding static-looking ghosts. Her father uncovers information that would indicate his wife might have killed her. This one stretched by will to finish it pretty thin, as if I had been infected by the ghosts. The low-budget aesthetic and way that a lot of scenes utilize digital backgrounds (and pretty poorly at that) was quite hideous and made for a dull watch.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Writer/Director Joel Soisson, Producer Michael Leahy, Co-Producer Christian Agypt, Line Producer Ron Vecchiarelli, Editor Kirk Morri, Makeup Effects Supervisor Gary J. Tunnicliffe & Visual
Effects Supervisor Kevin O’neill
- Deleted Scenes (4 Min)
- A Sneak Peek At Pulse 3 (1 min)
PULSE 3 (2008)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: MA 15+
Audio: English DTS -HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Joel Soisson
Cast: Brittany Finamore, Karley Scott Collins, Rider Strong, Georgina Rylance, Todd Giebenhain, Thomas Merdis, William Prael, Laura Cayouette, Diane Ayala Goldner, Noureen DeWulf
In the third film we find a 16 year old girl named Justine (Brittany Renee Finamore) living in a dingy technology-free refuge community, she finds a verboten laptop and begins chatting online with a young man (Rider Strong) who invites her to come find him in the city. She leaves the refuge camp and enters the city looking for her new friend, only to find she's been lured into a trap. Like the previous film this is a pretty awful straight-to-video sequel, I will say it looks slightly better that the previous film, but not by much - it's a stinker.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Writer/Director Joel Soisson, Producer Michael Leahy, Actress Brittany Finamore & Editor Kirk Morri
- Pulse 3: Behind-The-Scenes (8 min)
The first Pulse film is fairly entertaining technology-terror, it's slick and well-made, the cast is strong, and while I don't love it a ton it's superior on every way to the two shitty straight-to-video sequels. It sort of boggles my mind that there might be enough die-hard fans out there looking to upgrade their DVDs to have these sequels on Blu-ray. That's just my humble opinion though, I dig plenty of shit films, so whom I to judge?
The 3-disc release arrives in a oversized clear keepcase with a flipper tray holding the pair of Blu-ray disc, with each film and it's corresponding extras getting it's own disc. The wrap is a non-reversible 2-sided design using the key art from the first film. This release also comes with a sideloading slipcase featuring the same artwork on the front and back. My thoughts on the bulk of the trilogy aside I think Via Vision Entertainment have done good work bringing these to Blu-ray with some archival extras, but on the whole this is not my cup of tea.