Spoilers, but the same ones that are in the official description of the movie.
This is a decent low budget movie. Not great, but good for those of us that like the genre. Most of what is "wrong" with this movie is the way it is presented. The main story has very little to do with Pulse. The supernatural infection is not truly tech based, but it could be shown in a similar enough way to title it the same but then piss off the audience. The little that connects it is crammed in, almost seeming like whomever gave it the treatment to connect it only read the description of Pulse rather than watched it.
What's left is rather poignant, at least from the mom's POV. It is actually just a kind of heartbreaking drama about a family falling apart in the worst way highlighted by horror aspects. Unfortunately, that is fairly ruined by the description if you read it before watching the movie, and since it was direct-to-video it's likely almost everyone did. You aren't supposed to know the ex-wife is a ghost until late in the movie and you are supposed to figure out that the mental breakdown that the movie is playing out both literally and figurately as you go along. The description really flips who the actual protagonist is which is very confusing when the movie follows her.
You see things in flashes that lead back to Pulse, but they feel like what they are: added in just to be able to tag it as a sequel. It would have been so much better as a stand alone movie.
It is filmed in a really off-putting way with all of the actors using greenscreen against photographs. If you don't notice what they are doing or are so annoyed at how little it had to do with the "first" one that you don't care why, it just feels cheap. It is actually meant to give that uncanny valley effect that makes you feel like none of the characters quite fit into their surroundings. They literally are living against this static seeming background. I think it's actually a neat visual language, knowing it was intentional.
My favorite thing about this movie was Lee Garlington as Aunt Carmen, the most realistic character I have ever seen in a horror movie. She is just tired. It's days or weeks into this thing (because of the way it's crammed together, neither timeframe really fits) and she has survived. She has gone through the fear and come through to the other side where the terror has normalized. She is desolate and exhausted, and I think most of us would be just like that if we had made it that far but had lost everything, and it still wasn't over.
If you like lower budget movies and appreciated Drag Me to Hell, The Babadook, and Lights Out, give this one a shot. Ignore the "Pulse" parts, know that the weird way the characters stand off the screen is on purpose, and try to forget you read the description and just let the actual plot unfold.
This is a decent low budget movie. Not great, but good for those of us that like the genre. Most of what is "wrong" with this movie is the way it is presented. The main story has very little to do with Pulse. The supernatural infection is not truly tech based, but it could be shown in a similar enough way to title it the same but then piss off the audience. The little that connects it is crammed in, almost seeming like whomever gave it the treatment to connect it only read the description of Pulse rather than watched it.
What's left is rather poignant, at least from the mom's POV. It is actually just a kind of heartbreaking drama about a family falling apart in the worst way highlighted by horror aspects. Unfortunately, that is fairly ruined by the description if you read it before watching the movie, and since it was direct-to-video it's likely almost everyone did. You aren't supposed to know the ex-wife is a ghost until late in the movie and you are supposed to figure out that the mental breakdown that the movie is playing out both literally and figurately as you go along. The description really flips who the actual protagonist is which is very confusing when the movie follows her.
You see things in flashes that lead back to Pulse, but they feel like what they are: added in just to be able to tag it as a sequel. It would have been so much better as a stand alone movie.
It is filmed in a really off-putting way with all of the actors using greenscreen against photographs. If you don't notice what they are doing or are so annoyed at how little it had to do with the "first" one that you don't care why, it just feels cheap. It is actually meant to give that uncanny valley effect that makes you feel like none of the characters quite fit into their surroundings. They literally are living against this static seeming background. I think it's actually a neat visual language, knowing it was intentional.
My favorite thing about this movie was Lee Garlington as Aunt Carmen, the most realistic character I have ever seen in a horror movie. She is just tired. It's days or weeks into this thing (because of the way it's crammed together, neither timeframe really fits) and she has survived. She has gone through the fear and come through to the other side where the terror has normalized. She is desolate and exhausted, and I think most of us would be just like that if we had made it that far but had lost everything, and it still wasn't over.
If you like lower budget movies and appreciated Drag Me to Hell, The Babadook, and Lights Out, give this one a shot. Ignore the "Pulse" parts, know that the weird way the characters stand off the screen is on purpose, and try to forget you read the description and just let the actual plot unfold.