Ten Days of Terror!: Pulse

Film: Pulse (2006)
Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on Fire!

How many times has the U.S. remake of a good (or great) Japanese horror movie been worth watching? I would suggest that both The Ring and The Grudge probably count. The Ring is a very solid remake that was smart enough to keep things very similar, as well as trying to match the tone and intent of Ringu. The Grudge was smart enough to set things in Japan, just with American characters, so much of what worked in Ju-On still did. Sadly, this is not the case with Pulse, the 2006 remake of Kairo, one of the best Japanese horror films of the current century. (And before anyone says it, yes Let Me In was good enough, but it was a remake of a Swedish movie, not a Japanese one.)

To discuss exactly what is wrong with Pulse, I need to talk about what is right with Kairo. In the original version of this story, people around Tokyo are starting to shut down mentally, emotionally, and physically. There is a rash of suicides and disappearances, and many of them seem to be connected in some ways to electronic devices—phones, PDAs, computers, etc. At times, people who have disappeared or died have sent messages to the living asking for help. As the movie goes on, it becomes clear that there is something infecting the electronic devices and sucking the will from people to live, and the danger and disappearances are spreading. It’s also soon evident that many of the disappearances are not people going into hiding but people who are essentially turning into ash.

Off Script: Kairo (Pulse)

Film: Kairo (Pulse)
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on laptop.

Like many people, I’m deeply upset by the now long-standing trend of American remakes of foreign films, particularly horror films. Such is the case with Kairo (Pulse), originally made in Japan in 2001 and shoddily remade about half a decade later in the U.S. I certainly understand the desire to put one’s own stamp on a good story, but I find this insta-remake trend bothersome. In almost every case, the remake is far less than the original. Even when the remake is good, the original is usually better. In the case of Kairo, it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that M. Night Shyamalan cribbed from it when making The Happening, too, meaning that this has not one, but one and a half crappy remakes.

Kairo, like many a good horror film, has a simple, albeit strange, premise. In Tokyo (and eventually we’re told in the world at large), people are shutting down mentally, physically, and emotionally, and then suddenly disappearing. This all appears to be connected with a number of electronic media and devices. We start with Michi (Kumiko Aso), who works at a plant sales company. One of her co-workers has been missing for some time, so she goes to check on him. She finds him and a computer disk he has been working on. While she hunts for the right disk, her coworker calmly goes to another room and hangs himself.