HORROR MONTH #1: Pulse, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2001)

Type of Media: Film

With technology now a near-inescapable part of most people's lives, you had to know horror movies were going to start looking at the ways all of these amazing gadgets might rob us of our humanity. Some are great (see the "White Bear" episode of Black Mirror and its silent hordes of people watching madness unfold through smartphone cameras). Others, not so much (see Unfriended and OMG WE CYBERBULLIED A GIRL AND NOW OUR SKYPE IS HAUNTED AHHHHHHH).

Would you believe that one of the best horror films about technology comes from the distant year of 2001? Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse creeped the bejeesus out of people when it came out, and while the technology featured in the movie might be dated, its allegory of computers isolating us is still very relevant. It was so good it even got the certification of quality for Japanese horror films: a shitty American remake that misses the point of the original but makes 50 times as much money.

Pulse begins in Tokyo with young woman Michi, whose coworker has recently missed several days of work. Michi goes to the coworker's apartment and finds him acting aloof and distant, until he casually hangs himself in the middle of their conversation. This kicks off a mystery of forbidden doors sealed with red tape, masses of people committing suicide, and websites with grainy videos of people performing strange rituals alone in their rooms.

Eventually it's revealed that spirits are entering our world and infecting people with a virus that makes them act despondent and hide away from human contact, and they can spread this virus en masse through the internet. How? Why? One character offers a theory, but if you're looking for a scientist or soldier to come in and clearly explain what's definitely going on, that never happens. Before anyone in the film can get a grip on what's happening, society is already collapsing from the sheer number of people withdrawing from the world.

Though it clocks in at almost two hours long, Pulse doesn't have time to explain what's going on, which only serves to make everything scarier. You can only guess at what the spirits are doing (though the little information you get points toward an answer that is so chilling you'd probably prefer not to think about it) and you don't know what the characters can do to make themselves safe from the ever-growing melancholy gripping the city. Towards the end of the movie, when the last few characters are making their way through an empty Tokyo with only a vague idea of what they can do to survive, you feel their hopelessness.

The way Pulse is presented, with long takes and wide shots that let you see a lot of the characters and environment at once, is the opposite of dynamic. Pulse is languid, mimicking the apocalypse the the spirits eventually bring: slow, but ultimately unstoppable.

There is also very little music, which is extremely impressive for a horror movie. Think of how much scary movies rely on some building violins or low rumbles to amp up the tension. Pulse accomplishes that same tension with clever framing, lighting, and pure storytelling. It also features no jumpscares, which is a huge bonus for a lot of people who like feeling creeped out but hate the shock of a monster popping out at you.

If you're up for a scary movie that takes its time to offer up some creepy imagery and truly chilling ideas on the nature of death, as well as one of the most unique end-of-the-world concepts in film, then check out Pulse.