This American version of the 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo has a university student (Kristen Bell) investigating an Internet webcam that gives visitors the chance to interact with ghosts.
This unoriginal trend continues with the new film Pulse, based on the 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo, said to be a masterpiece -- although I have not seen it.
Sadly, Hollywood's slick-looking but dumbed-down remake, directed by first-time feature filmmaker and commercial veteran Jim Sonzero, hits a new low.
Fresh-faced Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame plays Mattie, a university psychology student who has recently witnessed her boyfriend (Jonathan Tucker) commit suicide after he interacted with a mysterious Internet webcam that promises visitors the chance to see ghosts.
As she and her friends (Christina Milian, Rick Gonzalez and Sam Levine) investigate his death, they also lose their will to live, one by one, as they appear to get "infected" by the deadly computer virus.
Soon, the whole city, country and world are caught up in the silly, supernatural phenomenon, and Mattie's only saviour turns out to be an incredibly attractive computer geek (Ian Somerhalder, who played Boone on Lost) who bought her boyfriend's computer.
Along the way, the two good-looking leads deal with lots of dark shadows, flickering lights, creepy noises and terrifying-looking creatures, as Sonzero provides eyecatching visuals and sounds.
The problem is, none of it is very scary, and when the audience is supposed to be screaming and covering their eyes, they are mostly laughing out loud.
Even more remarkable is that horror master Wes Craven co-wrote the awful screenplay. Perhaps had Craven decided to spend a little more time on script rewrites and maybe actually got to direct this embarrassing flick, Pulse would not have been so dead on arrival.
This is cache, read story here
