Pulse 2006

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's intended as an indictment of our overdependence on communications devices, but the premise is out-of-this-world unbelievable. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The remake begins with the same premise and appropriates the most striking visuals, grafting them onto a more explicable but equally dull George Romero-style doomsday scenario. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: What was dreadful and trance-like in the original feels here like nothing-much-at-all sandwiched between some stock horror jolts. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: A handful of creepy visuals can't make up for a mountain of shortcomings. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Like Naomi Watts and Sarah Michelle Gellar before her, Bell spends this Hollywood remake of a Japanese cult hit at an emotional dead end. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The technophobic horror flick Pulse is a cautionary tale that could have been dreamed up by a frustrated parent: If you don't get off of that computer, kids, you'll turn into a zombie. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It would have been a lot scarier if the film's college kids, haunted by comrades who stare back at them from cyber-hell, looked like they had lives worth saving. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: An hour into the movie, I shut out the story and dialogue entirely and just focused on the visuals. That made the boring Bell and the cast of third-string teen movie supporting players somehow easier to bear. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Hideously ugly to look at and not even worth following. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Pulse is the remake of a 2001 J-horror film that was derivative and pokey, even before Hollywood got its hands on it. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Sitting through this movie is a joyless chore. Pulse doesn't have one. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: What's the lesson here? Should we all be talking to each other with two cans and a string? Read more

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail: The Internet is trying to kill you. Your cellphone also seems to be nursing a serious grudge. They may both be conspiring with your Blackberry... and your TiVo... and possibly your washing machine. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Pulse is most cunning in its overarching theme: What Americans have to fear most are hidden dangers in their midst. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: As the ghosts suck the life out of their victims, the audience suffers the same fate. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: A dumbed-down remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's disturbingly abstract Japanese horror film. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: The J-horror remake wheel spins again, spitting out this pathetic Americanization of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's apocalyptic fable. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The movie is far from great, but it certainly holds your attention. Read more