Pulse

Aroview: A clandestine by-product of the post-RING phenomenon, this refined and wholly disconcerting tale of a supernatural internet pandemic ranks as the most intelligent and eerily pertinent of the 'J-Horror' viral strain.

Genuinely creepy and without schlock thrills, dir. Kurosawa harnesses the cold, clinical aesthetic of CHARISMA and SEANCE to cast a pervading sense of dread over proceedings. Encountering a sinister website that appears to be triggering a succession of suicides throughout Japan, the film's characters succumb to something far more unorthodox in horror terms: debilitating, all-consuming loneliness, with the alienating effects of technology the ultimate harbinger of doom. Though guilty of employing the now-ubiquitous long-haired apparition, this is quietly terrifying, particularly as an alarming apocalyptic endnote.

NZ International Film Festival 2006

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