The Honeycut: The Prophetic Plot of ‘Pulse’

Plugging In

I’ve always wanted to see more Japanese horror movies. I find them interesting because Japanese culture is so different from American culture that those films immediately feel strange. Then you add in the disturbing and supernatural elements, and it really takes things to the next level. 

Filmmaker Daunte Brown (“The Boonkey Trail”) joined us on the “Midnight Terrors Podcast” this week. I was excited that he chose to cover the Japanese techno-horror movie, “Pulse,” from 2001.

Did this movie live up to its reputation of being terrifying? Or does it deserve to be unplugged… for good?

The Story

We follow two groups of people in Tokyo as they try to survive a ghostly invasion via the internet. That’s the best I can do. The plot is pretty complex and hard to follow. For the first half of the movie, I didn’t even realize there were two different groups of people. 

Honey’s Cut

While the storytelling in “Pulse” can feel disjointed, where this movie really thrives is its haunting atmosphere. It establishes a sense of dread right from the beginning and doesn’t let up. The deaths and ghosts also do a good job of adding to the creep factor. 

I thought it was interesting to showcase spirits invading our reality by coming through the internet. When this movie was made in 2001, the internet was still really new. In fact, some of the characters barely know how to use a computer. It was cool to see how filmmakers took this emerging technology and portrayed it as something nefarious. Which, 25 years later, you could make a strong argument that all this technology has caused more harm than good.

I also can’t help but think this movie is very metaphorical. At the beginning of the film, the ghosts seem to only be haunting a few people. By the end, they have brought down the entire world. There are some really crazy apocalyptic scenes! Could the entities be an allegory for how quickly new technology spreads throughout the world?

Another idea I had is that the ghosts symbolize depression, isolation, loneliness – negative emotions. The one entity says that after death there is only loneliness, and they want their victims to experience that same feeling. Once someone encounters a ghost, they become almost catatonic until they kill themselves. Pretty telling. 

Another reason I thought of this is that the characters try to escape on a train and leave everything behind. Only, the train stops running halfway through the trip and they are forced to return home. Could this show how you can’t outrun a negative headspace? 

 Honey’s Final Thought 

“Pulse” had its finger on the pulse of society at the turn of the millennium. We had just left the fears of Y2K behind, but then technology seemed to be rapidly evolving. That decade saw the internet and social media explode. Smartphones took over in the 2010s. Now, in the 2020s there are a lot of fears around AI. 

Look around. Life is completely different than it was just 20 years ago. Much like in the movie, you can hate this stuff, you can try to avoid it, but it will eventually be everywhere, much like the ghosts in the movie. 

Along with the growth of technology came the increase of loneliness and isolation. “Pulse” seemed to understand this way back when.  We’ve sacrificed many aspects of life and community for convenience. It’s why so many people feel nostalgia for those Blockbuster nights, instead of aimlessly scrolling Netflix.  

“We’re more connected than ever, and more isolated than ever” – it’s become a popular phrase for a reason.