Pulse  (2000)  **

Reviewed 2/24/02

A terrific first 20 minutes gives way to monotony and redundancy as the same scenario is rehashed over and over.  Ghosts have made their way onto the internet enticing live folks into entering the Forbidden Room that transmogrifies them into mental zombies, stoic on the surface, paranoid inside.  The passivity of the characters and the vagueness of what the world is doing while it is going to pot makes for a frustrating viewing experience.  The internet as metaphor for desolation, loneliness, and ultimately a kind of spiritual death is worth about 30 seconds of intellectual contemplation.  Kiyoshi Kurosawa does elicit a few spooky moments though.  Koji Yakusho makes a very brief cameo.