Pulse (2001)

Would you like to meet a ghost?
About as bleak a depiction of apocalypse as you’re ever likely to come across, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse is a J-Horror film in which short episodic vignettes slowly disclose a world where ghosts outnumber people and people have been reduced to black ashy stains on the wall. In the midst of dealing with the emotional fallout of their friend’s suicide, a group of young people start to notice that their computers are accessing the internet on their own and loading websites that ask them if they would like to meet a ghost. As we cycle through a shifting set of characters faced with these phenomena, it becomes clear that direct contact with the blurry spectral beings results in life-ending melancholy and forlornness, and the only escape from this dire outcome seems to be isolating yourself in your barricaded house indefinitely. The bleak cinematography, empty cityscapes, and knife-like integration of cacophony and silence in the sound design make this an understated and creepily effective counterpoint to the more widely known Ringu (1998). A remarkably atmospheric expression of technological angst and the fear of being alone, Pulse is not to be missed!

For the remainder of the quarter, we will be showing films by contemporary horror film auteurs from France, Japan, and the United States each week. Same time, same place. All are welcome. Tell your family, invite your friends.

Sponsored (or at least turned a blind eye) by the Literature Department, and produced by the usual gang of aficionados. More informative flyers to follow weekly.