Film Review: Pulse 3 (2008)

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SYNOPSIS:

Seven years into the invasion, humankind has fled the cities where billions have died from a plague spread through the internet. JUSTINE (17) dreams of a life beyond her squalid refugee camp where all technology is taboo. She discovers the last working laptop and opens it like Pandora’s Box. Someone is waiting for her online. And that someone wants desperately to meet her. The only catch, she must return to the city. With a longing that surpasses fear, Justine embarks on a terrifying journey back to the heart of where it all began. What waits there is something she could not possibly have imagined.

REVIEW:

Not your typical ghost haunting film, but part of an on-going series. The Pulse days of scary ghost popping out and throwing a few thrills are gone. We are deep into the trilogy of the Pulse franchise. Pulse 3 picks up where 2 left off. If your starting fresh from #3 then turn back now and visit the first 2 or you may have even less of an experience than need be. It’s kid of a shame because Pulse 1 was legitimately a horror film. It was shot better, directed better and had some old school/new school action going on. Pulse #3 feels like the tail end of a long ride. Let’s dig into the story a bit so I can comment further.

We find ourselves now in the future after 4/5 of the population has been wasted away by electronics, poltergeists, ghost viruses, machinery and pretty much all modern technology. This has created a apocalypse of a different nature. The future of the dead who live and travel though electronic means. The effect? Once attacked by a spirit, you body quickly becomes infected per way of a veiny reaction that overtakes your body and you die. This idea is seen multiple times in case you forget. The ones who have survived have hidden away at refugee camps or locked themselves in barriers with red taped windows or something there of. Essentially the point is, technology has become dangerous that its given way to extinction in fear of invoking spirits.

Our feature character is named Justine played by the charming
Brittany Finamore. She’s not a bad actress, she was just given a bad script. Justine determined to see the world takes off from her fostered refugee camp and hitchhikes to (sorry – forgot the city). Her mission to meet up with Adam, her chat room friend. Adam lures her in hopes of…. I’m not sure, love interest maybe? But it seems to be enough for her to hit the ground running. Along the way she sees the aftermath of the new age, and even stops by an old blokes house who take her in for a night. Ya bad choice! – but regardless, she arrives at her destination only to be fooled again. No bother giving all away as there not much to the story, so I’ll save that little bit for you to enjoy (or not). Things get a bit far fetched and drag this painful viewing experience into even more nonsense….

The ghosts is this film are about the lamest I’ve seen. To retro a bit, they have slowly degraded since Pulse #1 to the point now where I don’t think the filmmakers are really trying anymore. Caught in repitition, these ghosts flicker on and off, perform redundant routines like they are caught in some spiritual time skip. They’ll pause occasionally to observe of or attack the living but that’s about it. Gone though are some of the more dynamic special effects seen in the series origin. Its’ pretty apparent the film has gone way of the cheap due to less budget. Often actors are seen against CGI backgrounds which just doesn’t hold up in the scheme of things. To keep things fair though the idea is pretty interesting. That being ghosts coming back from the afterlife to inherit the earth and claim more victims.

Though with that notion you’d expect a higher level of frights, than what we have here. I’m really not sure how the creators let this trilogy get so bad. Maybe its the hope of cashing in on the name a bit for some guarateed rentals? Maybe its the cool cover art marketing that would hope to gain some quick sales. Though these are the reason for these reviews. To give you the goods to help you decide if its worth a look or not. In closing, my take would be if you need to finish the series then take a look, if your browsing for a good rental that offers scare and quality entertainimnt…keep browsing..its just not here. I hope the filmmakers read these things, as I’d really like to see this franchise get the focus it deserves. After 3 dedicated film viewing’s, Pulse 3 ends with a bang, but only in the literal sense and not the excitement sense……..

Pulse 3 (2008)