Jim Sonzero

(In French, On Cable TV, January 2020) I like a lot of what Pulse attempts to do—namely, blend the technological with the supernatural and poke around at some of the fears of the information age. The dead possessing the living using technology—that’s still a great premise: someone should make a movie about it. Alas, Pulse aims for the lowest common horror movie denominator, and by that, I mean a teenage audience, with a by-the-numbers execution that barely scratches the potential of its premise. The good ideas (and a few good visuals) don’t last long, as the college-age characters run around screaming. Christina Milan does look great—but she’s only in the movie for a moment. Otherwise, Pulse is so conventional that it becomes boring considering the random scares: there’s no discipline to director Jim Sonzero’s approach. The mid-2000s patina of the film is obvious not only in the technology being used, but also the constant bathing of everything in blue light. Sure, Pulse can be worth a chuckle or two at the way it completely drowns the potential of its premise into generic horror clichés… but there are other better movies that should be watched before this one.