Pulse

2001 ‘回路’ Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Do you want to meet a ghost?

In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lurks some of its inhabitants who are desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.

Haruhiko Katō Kumiko Aso Koyuki Kurume Arisaka Masatoshi Matsuo Shinji Takeda Kenji Mizuhashi Shun Sugata Ken Furusawa Teruo Ono Sho Aikawa Masayuki Shionoya Kaori Ichijō Takumi Tanji Jun Fubuki Koji Yakusho Hassei Takano Atsushi Yuki Go Takashima Akiko Kitamura Rie Yasuda Zengoro Mamiana

Alternative Title

Kairo

horror thriller

119 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 3

"...once the system's complete, it'll function on its own and become permanent."
Unbelievable. I need to watch it again, but certainty one of the seminal films of the 21st Century. Indeed a very digital ghost story, one which encourages us to reflect on the new spaces which have been created or transformed since 2000. People interact with computer screens, televisions...but rarely ever phones. Perhaps because there is no screen (or wasn't really in 2001) for a telephone? It's very interesting and telling that the movie's near-climax (only because the movie takes a sudden, very unexpected shift following which I'm still struggling to make sense out of) is in an abandoned factory, an analogue space, and one where ghosts exist in.…
Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★½ 4

Remember when the internet was so new and mysterious we thought it might plausibly contain demons? Now we know it's just full of assholes.
Double feature this with The Midnight After.
Review by Peter Labuza ★★★★ 5

I think the first thing I said to my friend Alex Enquist as I left the theater was that this was “the most Bordwellian movie ever made.” I don’t think the film has that much to say about our relationship to technology – it’s more of a gimmick to get the plot going (essentially Swimfan but never annoyingly so), but so perfectly constructed, where each shot leads into the next shot. Kurosawa jumps 180 degree lines, re-organizes the space of a scene via shots that feel unnecessary and bring us out of the action on screen, and then suddenly it becomes obvious as new information emerges into the frame. This can either be for horror (aka ghoooooooossssssts) or even comedy…
Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★

probably the best film ever made. one day i will be able to talk about this without crying, but today is not that day. i have depression and this movie understands what it’s like to be depressed and to suffer with your own mind better than anything i’ve ever laid eyes on. i’m not okay tonight, maybe i will be tomorrow, even just for a little while, just a little moment of peace.
Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

A rare case of a technologically contemporary film (be it horror or any other genre) only becoming more relevant with time. Kurosawa's digital ghost story is actually haunting, as people form connections that only distance them, the living cocooned into ghosts that seek out others to convert but can never seem to keep their turned pals around them. The direction is so subtle that the insistent score only bursts into sound after a ghost appears or something unnerving happens, as if even the composer were caught off-guard. Not scary, maybe, but the melancholy of the picture is as powerful a feeling a film has ever imparted upon me. A masterpiece.
Review by 20XX ★★★★½

The defining cinematic statement on incurable loneliness, technological escapism and urban malaise at the dawn of social media. You're never alone with a dial-up connection, right? Pulse will make you believe in ghosts.

Recent reviews

Review by Rubens Fabricio Anzolin ★★★★

Filme-teoria (ou Filmar a catástrofe aos olhos de André Bazin).
Review by Person Face ★★★★½

Scary not only in its gloomy cinematography, slow-burn tension building, or creepy imagery, but also in its themes of isolation and existential dread. Pulse is a movie that stuck with me.
Review by Jeff Lehman ★★★★½

ghosts are real—they're the traces left behind in our digital lives.
hooptober 6/6/6 – #7
Review by GomezChristian ★½

Great start and had such potential but logic flaws, pacing and awkward conversation ruined any possible experience.
Review by Rian Oliveira ★★★★½

Ok, os efeitos visuais são datados e o roteiro tem muitas conveniências, porém eu aceito pq elas colaboram com a atmosfera. E que atmosfera. O mal-estar apocalíptico é foda. É o filme que mais me deixou com medo de verdade. O mistério dos vultos, tanto narrativo quanto visual me deixou perturbado. Eles não são assustadores visualmente, mas tem algo muito bizarro neles. Você não os enxerga direito e a movimentação deles é muito dolorosa(eles são criaturas que vivem em dor) e inesperada. Não tem jump scares aqui, mas em algumas cenas eu gritei apenas com eles se movimentando, de tão perturbador que é. Junte isso à trilha angustiante, enquadramentos abertos, iluminação "precária" proposital, movimentos de câmera cirúrgicos e alguns "bugs" visuais e tá aí uma experiência angustiante.
Review by David ★★★½

if you're lonely, scared of the internet, and hate ghosts, this is the scariest movie ever made.
Review by m_hulot ★★★★½

A ghost story so bleak its hero can't work up the energy to stand up by the end.
Review by Golshan ★★★½

The atmosphere is so bleak, I felt it to my core.
Review by Eric Heckler ★★

Probably was much scarier in 2001