Weekly Review -- Isolation in its many forms

Pulse (2006) -- I did not expect much from Pulse. For me, it was an interesting film to see, since I saw the original, Kairo, fairly recently and was eager to compare and contrast. However, I figured that the rather delicate philosophical aspect of the original would undergo a not-so-delicate transformation in the remake, becoming pure shock value guided by chills and thrills. Unfortunately, I was right. The film lacks all the symbolism of the original; it is dull, dark and depressing, without context or cohesive meaning.


**SPOILERS AHEAD**


After her boyfriend Josh (Jonathan Tucker) commits suicide, student Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell) notices that people are starting to fade into oblivion and that these disappearances are seemingly linked to a strange computer signal. Mattie and her friends soon discover that the signal is coming from the world of the dead, who are trying to infiltrate our world and take away our will to live. They have to find a way to stop it, but time is running out fast...

While the original film explored the story within the context of the Internet age and technology-induced isolation, enriching its message with its proceedings, Pulse squeezes its potential metaphors into the preachy screenplay. The ways to depict the gradual extinction of human interaction -- text messages, computer chats etc. -- feel like expositional tools, rather than part of the story's flow. As far as the scares go, the scenes which are genuinely haunting in Kairo merely feel like bad CGI in this version. I am referring in particular to the scene in which a female ghost claims the life of Stone (Rick Gonzalez), which felt like an uncompromising piece of cinematic Hell in the original and which here feels like... well, like we have seen it all before and the show was much better the first time around. I found the opening scene and the very last shot frightening; other than those, the scares seemed generic, without having had much thought or soul put into them. The acting is not much to write home about, either. Kristen Bell tries to make something out of the material and mostly does a decent job, but Ian Somerhalder sleeps through his performance. The rest of the cast is not that bad, although there are no stand-outs.

The general atmosphere of Pulse leaves the impression of a film harbouring pretentious arthouse aspirations when it is unable to fulfill them, due to its lack of subtlety and convincing writing. The film is not a study of our world falling victim to its own progress; rather, it is a poorly thought out film that tries to gain attention by sensationalizing its story and turning up its shock volume. In short, Pulse feels like an unreadable carbon copy of Kairo.

5/10


Sheitan (2006) -- Finally, a film that rendered me speechless. No, not in a good way. I am still trying to figure out if this film had a point and what exactly it was. A group of twenty-somethings, including Bart (Olivier Bartélémy), Yasmine (Leïla Bekhti) and Eve (Roxane Mesquida), decide to have some fun at Eve's country mansion. Once they get to the countryside, they start acting like stereotypical city guys and gals, making fun of the 'hicks' and practically knocking down livestock. Soon, they meet Joseph (Vincent Cassel), the housekeeper, who is acting overwhelmingly friendly. As the night progresses, the youngsters realize that they may be more welcome than they originally thought...


**SPOILERS AHEAD**


When done right, films that deal with the dark side of human nature can leave you with an unsettling sense of fear, disgust and disbelief. Wolf Creek and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are good examples. However, Sheitan proved to be more vulgar and disturbing than anything. It lacked suspenseful, creaky moments to be a horror film; it was too disturbing to be a horror comedy; and it dipped into so many genres, it could not decide where it belonged in the end. The entire "was it just a dream?" shtick has been done to death and back in so many horror movies, and here it seemed to be tacked on for the purpose of trying to make the mess hip and interesting. I could barely appreciate the irony of the names Mary and Joseph; if only the screenplay had been intelligent, if we had been given a chance to feel anything for any of the characters and if the human depravity aspect had been explored without inappropriate humor, I would have possibly been able to laugh at that part, but "if only" does not a clever film make. I have no idea what Vincent Cassel was doing in Sheitan, but the good thing is that Joseph is different from most of the other characters he has played, so at least he had a chance to show his versatility. That is about the only recommendation I have for this film. Do not waste your time or money.

2/10