Overview
A haunting exploration of grief and isolation in a digital age where the dead may not rest in peace.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- eerie
- melancholic
- oppressive
- late night horror viewing
- rainy day
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s atmospheric, suggestive techno-horror and its meditation on loneliness, while some found its pacing and narrative logic frustrating.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ghostly images appear through computers, while the web becomes linked to the spread of restless spirits and isolation.
Young Tokyo residents become emotionally and physically isolated as disappearances and supernatural encounters proliferate.
The film relies on shadows, ghostly figures, cryptic imagery, and negative space more than blood or special-effects spectacle.
Michi, Ryosuke, and their associates occupy loosely connected threads involving suicide, computer images, disappearances, and ghosts.
Films like Pulse, and why
ring
shares japanese supernatural horror, technological anxiety, cryptic imagery, and a slow-building atmosphere of isolation
dark water
shares melancholic ghost horror, unresolved supernatural threat, and dread emerging from ordinary urban spaces
the grudge
shares existential loneliness, eerie supernatural suggestion, and psychologically disorienting horror rather than explicit gore
one missed call
shares internet-age paranoia, urban alienation, and unsettling technological connections between isolated people
Movie Details
- Director
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Release Date
- 2001-02-03
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (731)
Cast
- Kumiko Aso
- Haruhiko Kato
- Koyuki
- Kurume Arisaka
- Masatoshi Matsuo
- Shinji Takeda
- Kenji Mizuhashi
- Shun Sugata
- Akiko Kitamura
- Ken Furusawa
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC+ Amazon Channel, ARROW
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Pulse about?
- A haunted internet transforms everyday Tokyo loneliness into a spreading, existential supernatural crisis.
- What is Pulse like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Pulse as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Pulse violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Pulse as mild.
- What did critics think of Pulse?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s atmospheric, suggestive techno-horror and its meditation on loneliness, while some found its pacing and narrative logic frustrating.
- Which films are like Pulse?
- Films with a similar feel include ring, dark water, the grudge, and one missed call.
- How long is Pulse?
- Pulse runs 119 minutes.
- Where can I watch Pulse?
- In United States, Pulse streams on Philo, AMC+ Amazon Channel, ARROW.
