Pulses

If you're only up on current movies, you may have seen a movie from 2006 carrying itself around as a horror flick called Pulse. That movie was actually the third film named Pulse, and was a remake of the second Pulse movie, which was a Japanese film. But let's take a few steps back and have a look at the point that all these films have in common: technology = bad.

In 1988, a film came out called Pulse. It was an American horror film that played out like a haunted house story, but had this theme of becoming the victim of our technological dependencies. The villain was simply the electricity feeding into the house, and it could increase itself to the point of taking control of the household devices and becoming destructive. The film opens with the guy across the street going "crazy" without explanation, and as luck would have it, some similar things begin occurring to the family that in central to our story. Each member of the family narrowly escapes death by electrical mishap, and their only hope of being safe? "Unplug everything," says the guy whose house is lit by kerosene lamps. But not just unplug it; get rid of everything that so much as receives a signal from the outside world.

Fast forward to 2001 when a Japanese filmmaker concocts a story to where people can communicate with the dead via a website. The site seems to have webcams showing people who don't look so well, but as people become obsessed with this site, something weird seems to happen to them. They become profoundly depressed and before long, they lose hope entirely and become black splotches on the wall. There's an odd theme about red rooms here and there, though little explanation is given of this, and people soom begin to actively kill themselves because of their depression. The solution? Well, it's hard to say. The red room seems to be a bad thing, and whatever's in there gets out and does something to you to make you lose hope. The heroes eventually leave Japan entirely to escape it.

After many failed attempts, 2006 brought us the American version of the 2001 Japanese film. This time, we get a rock solid explanation as to what's going on. The dead are trying to communicate or come back entirely through electronic devices. Anything the uses an electronic pulse to power it is an outlet for them. This extends to everything we have from radios to computers to cell phones. If you are even in range of a cell phone tower, you can be had. They attack and suck the hope right out of you. You sink into that depression while being slowly covered by dark lines before turning into ashes (the American idea of the black splotch). The solution? Unplug everything. Get out of the range of cell phones and everything to be safe.

Finally, though this is actually cheating my way into just complaining about it, we have Pulse 2 from 2008. This one uses the concept of the American Pulse and does little more than try to tell a story in that world. It doesn't further the original characters' story; it doesn't progress the battle against the dead; it doesn't even give us a worthwhile and endearing tale of bravery and hope. No, this one follows one of "them" searching for her child who ends up with her still-living husband. After a host of pointless scenes, we get a pointless ending where he and his daughter run to a bus to a refugee camp, and for some reason, they stop when dead mom appears. I'm sure it was supposed to be heroic and touching, but since they didn't have to stop, it came off as dumb. He didn't even try to escape.

Anyway, it makes you kind of consider in all instances just how much we have become dependant on technology for everything, and if one of these scenarios did occur, just how screwed we would all be. I know as a geek, I love my tech, but I also know I'm dependant on it. If I had to live in an environment or situation like it was 200 years ago, I would be in a world of hurt, because of how dependant on technology I really am. There are many things I can in all reality do without any problem...if I were ready for it. But there are other things that are difficult to do without.

I always think of the ice of 07 to consider doing without all of our modern conveniences. You see, while there are times that it's very easy to do without these things, the middle of the winter is not one of those times. Without electricity, we had no heat at all, and we were not very good at keeping a fire going in the fireplace. We still have a corded phone, so we were fine on the phone front, though I did take our cell phones to work to charge them. I used the computer at work to get my internet fix, but though I was at work all day in a heated building, being at home in the cold all night, I was constantly cold at work as well and maintained my layered clothing. But on the flip side, we did just put our refrigerated items outside since it was freezing out there and kept them just fine.

So quality of film aside, it did make me think about everything I have that would be vulnerable to the stories presented. Kind of an odd thought for a Monday, but it gives me something to ponder.