After the success of The
Ring (followed by the success of The
Grudge,) the Hollywood money machine was emboldened to remake every
J-horror or J-horror influenced film that they could find. It didn’t matter how
good or bad the source material was, if it made money or was even warmly
regarded critically, it was fodder for the Hollywood slaughter. This is where Kairo, also known as Pulse, comes into play. The original
film is a stark and artistic horror film, intent on crafting vague messages
about the relationship between society and technology, that has earned its fair
share of mixed reactions since its release. For one, I am a massive fan of Kairo and you are welcome to dig into my
review of the Arrow Video Blu Ray release of the film HERE for some more
in-depth context to understand the rest of this article and review. There will
often be comparisons to it through the next section that focuses on the first
entry of the American Pulse series, but
it felt necessary to address some of the context for the following. It’s during
this time frame that Kurosawa’s Kairo
was picked for a Hollywood adaption and the results are interesting at best and
insulting at worst.