Pulse (1988)

Electricity is one of the elements that we rely even depend upon in our daily lives because most of what we use is electrical from watching TV, working on the computer, using the coffee maker, talking on a cell phone, you name it. But we also know it's not the most stable element as things have gone wrong or there have been fatal accidents. This causes us to live with the subconscious dread that the very things we rely upon can turn against us on a dime.This film is an under the radar gem, it's also kinda another one of my childhood gems if you can believe it since this is one of the first horror films I've ever seen.I really love the premise which I'll admit is a bit absurd, but I personally think it's a colorful and kinda cool premise, it's basically taking the old Haunted House motif but instead of ghosts it's electricity.I even like that there is mystery to this strange phenomena, we never really know why the hell this is happening, is it some forgotten experiment by the government or is there some cyberterriorst faction that has invented a sophisticated techno virus to attack our technology and infiltrate residences; I'm not sure you guess is as good as mine. But to me I feel that just adds to the scares it really gets to that subconscious fear that what we can't control or even understand can kill us.The pacing is solid it a steady build up but it does pay off in full. I really like the suspense where is a sort of paranoia were you are constantly afraid that the next appliance the character operate or get near will go haywire and hurt may'be kill them.The music is very good I really like the end theme song which I thought sounded cool and is one of my favorite end themes, it just has this exciting techno feel to it which fits the film.And the effects are great as their all practical, from how the electricity is animated and moves making it seem like some entity that's alive. We even see some nifty shots of circuit boards being burned, mercury melting and spreading, just all kinds of things fraking up. Though my favorite effect was with the TV where it was producing this moving lazer beam that just kept building up faster and faster.However what makes this film work the most is in the protagonist whom are likable characters you actually care about. I really liked the son played by Joey Lawerence. Yeah I use to watch the show "Blossom" but this film was before his fame on the show, all I can say is good start. I really thought he was sympathetic as he's a kid still adjusting to his father's recent divorce and his new life in it.Even like the father played by Cliff De Young and the foster mom by Roxane Hart both of them are some stereotypical disbelieving parents, I really love how this film breaks that tired cliché and actually has them on the kid's side. Both are rational people but their actually open minded because despite some disbelief even they both notice something not kosher with their appliances which defies logic. I'd personally behave the same way as both of them, with some of the stories we hear about what happened in the last two houses and witnessing how one appliance suddenly turns on without even pressing the on switch you have to wonder.Even like the little drama as we see both the father and son are trying to have a working relationship and even love the final conflict at the end when both are helping each other from the bad situation. Which I found touching because their doing what any good father and son would do, that's something I don't see often in the horror genre.Overall like any new electrical appliance this film is worth a spin, Pulse has a pulse.Rating: 3 stars

One of those mild horror movies that started appearing in the late 1980's that basically made a not so gory or other things that make a horror movie have an R rating so instead it became PG-13. Kind of like "The Gate", horror movie, but just enough scary stuff so it makes a PG-13 and does not get into R territory. This movie like "The Gate" had its moments, but would have benefited from being a bit more intense. Give me some more kills and thrills and such. However, from the way this movie plays out it sort of reminds me of Poltergeist a bit in some areas, granted the cause of the commotion is completely different some of the attacks remind me of stuff from the Poltergeist trilogy. This movie is not about spooks for the most part, though I guess one could argue that point seeing as how there really is no explanation for the occurrences in the film, so why it could have been ghosts and a number of other reasons. This film features a house where a guy lives that is slowly going wrong. What is going wrong you ask? Well all electrical appliances are going berserk. To the point where all the appliances seem to do harm to the occupants of the house. A bit of mystery to it, but for the most part it is attack of the electricity. Works to some degree and fails to some degree.

The idea of a malevolent force living inside the local power lines (and thus, inside your home) is not a bad one. We can probably live with the plot, but what about the movie? The fact that we are treated to multiple shots of stuff like, oh I don't know, the thermostat (accompanied by tense music) to heighten our fear should give you the answer.Apparently an electrical storm causes something to happen at a substation. Exactly what happens we will never know, because we pretty much see the lightning strike, then spend some time watching different film angles of power lines and equipment overlaid with the opening credits. I think that the lightning strike created "The Pulse," allowing it to travel over the wires finding a safe place to kill people, but do not quote me on that.Enter Bill, Ellen, and David, the standard (fissionable) elements of a nuclear family. His dad's house might be in a well to do neighborhood, but Bill has installed all sorts of bars on the windows to prevent forced entry. Since the chances of a burglary in this film are probably nil, we can bet they will be unable to leave the cursed house at some point due to Bill's paranoid security measures.Demonic forces (even ones with polarity) love to torment young children and the little wuss makes a perfect target, so how does it screw with David? By cracking gas mains, making the television go freaky, and eventually turning the home into a flaming death trap. It is all very silly to me, including the grass dying around the house. The current usually stays inside the wires or various appliances, why would plant matter start dying? Guess it just seemed like a "horrific" thing to happen.If there was ever a movie the Amish would enjoy this is it ("See Jeremiah! Machines are the Devil's work! Now go outside and round up your six brothers for supper."), perhaps that was the audience targeted when it was produced? If so then someone in marketing got fired, probably beat up and then fired now that I think about it.

Young boy David (a winning performance by Joey Lawrence of the TV show "Blossom") is spending the week with his estranged, hard-working father Bill (the always solid Cliff De Young) and new stepmother Ellen (a fine Roxanne Hart). David notices that the electricity in the house has taken on a lethal and malevolent life of its own, but can't convince either his dad or stepmom that something's amiss.Writer/director Paul Golding makes this fantastic premise seem fairly credible and extremely chilling by carefully evoking a thoroughly plausible everyday mundane world that's ripped violently asunder by a bizarre and inexplicable phenomenon (Golding's stubborn refusal to provide some kind of valid explanation for why the electricity is acting up adds a truly eerie and unnerving ambiguity to the picture). Moreover, Golding successfully creates believable and sympathetic characters and offers a gradual build-up of skin-crawling tension which culminates in a positively harrowing and nerve-wracking climax with all the electricity going dangerously haywire. Peter Lyons Collister's exceptional macro photography, Jay Ferguson's shuddery score, and the first-rate special effects further contribute to the film's sterling quality. Kudos are also in order for the uniformly ace acting; veteran character actor Charles Tyner has a colorfully quirky supporting part as a nutty old paranoid electrician and Robert Romanus (Mike Damone in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") pops up in a cool cameo as a smooth-talking TV repairman. Spooky and intense, "Pulse" rates as a real nifty little sci-fi/horror sleeper.