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Created Apr 23, 2009 01:16AM PST • Edited Apr 23, 2009 01:16AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   It almost goes without saying that the American remake of “Pulse” is no great shakes, and pales in comparison to the Kiyoshi Kurosawa original. The original films themes of societal disconnects and the fear surrounding one’s vulnerability within the wider system gave the film an appeal that went moreso towards appreciators of the avant-garde brand of supernatural horror and, as such, wasn’t palatable to a wider audience in the manner some of the more accessible foreign imports (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Let the Right One In”) have been. Still, it was a near-masterpiece that only looks a hell of a lot better for the shallow jump-scares and “Grudge”-lite set-pieces this revamp cooks up, the plot surrounding a mysterious wireless signal that allows murderous dead to infiltrate the living world played for jump-scares and/or darkened rooms in which the uniformly attractive cast (headlined by Kristen Bell) find themselves trapped, ghostly tormentors threatening their quintessentially 21st-century lives. Needless to say, the existentialism that made the Kurosawa original such a resounding film is second fiddle to the generic Hollywood tactics new director Jim Sonzero employs. There are moments of intrigue — maybe one or two successful scares, even — but they are too sporadically glimpsed for this visually arresting teen horror to qualify as a film to be actively sought out.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   Kristen Bell was a hit on the “Veronica Mars” television show, but in playing lead character Mattie in “Pulse,” one gets the distinct feeling she could have chosen a better vehicle for her first leading role on the big screen. Working with material that feels like its most challenging elements were all edited out post-production, Bell gives the part her all but even she can’t make believable the way Mattie and her friends barely seem to react to the news that their closest pals and fellow co-eds are being picked off by this bizarre computer virus. She’s more emotionally approachable than her co-stars but it wouldn’t be a surprise if some of her better “Pulse” moments also didn’t make the final cut.

   Her co-stars meanwhile have either been chosen for their looks or the film’s obligatory minority parts, the results being characters pretty to look at, but ones there mostly to await death and then scream and wail as they’re dragged into the shadows. They aren’t bad but — less memorably — simply mediocre.

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Romania stands in for America and the result is more curiously familiar settings to the ones pedalled by prior films of this one’s ilk, while “Pulse” frequently excels at getting defining images that nonetheless get made redundant by the (seemingly) choppy screenplay. While it might appeal to many fans that one of the cookie-cutter teen victims gets pulled into a washing machine, one has to question its standing as a viable piece of wireless technology. Similarly, it isn’t really believable that a bunch of characters would appear so outwardly indifferent to the ongoing deaths of their surrounding friends yet “Pulse” clings to their apathy for no apparent reason. Furthermore, the film’s representation of the end of the world due to the invading supernatural beings captured via dishcloth dirty flash-shots feels like it comes about to rapidly, though it scores points for not ending on a final note too uplifting and hopeful — in all, this is the closest it gets to matching the spirit of Kurosawa’s vision, the former film’s critique of society’s technological reliance and the loneliness one feels in their ultimate death otherwise unaccounted for. The neutered relationship that develops between Mattie and stranger Dexter (Ian Somerhalder of TV’s “Lost”) isn’t exactly endearing either.

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.8

    Typically castrated teen horror edge.

17. Sex Innocent 1.4

18. Violence Gentle 1.5

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Fantasy 5.0

    As far out as a movie about world-ending spirits that look like holdovers from “Silent Hill” can be.

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 5.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0