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'Pulse': Creepy and a little disconnected

Like 1963's "The Haunting" and 1999's "The Blair Witch Project," Japan's "Pulse" is a horror film stoked in psychological terror.

It's not about blood, gore and oozing innards but unsettling creepiness that gets under a moviegoer's skin and makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Magnolia Pictures 'Pulse' B- The verdict: A ghost story full of psychological terror and maybe too much murkiness for its own good. Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Starring: Shun Sugata, Kenji Mizuhashi, Shinji Takeda, Koji Yakusho, Kaori Ichijou Run time: 110 minutes Release date: Nov. 9, 2005 Rating: Not rated. Horror remade See what the critics say about the American remake. On the web Official movie site Rate 'Pulse'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

At times, "Pulse," first released in Japan in 2001, is quite successful at doing just that. A ghost story with weird, compelling images mixed up with modern-day computers and cell phones and an insightful contemplation on loneliness, the film slowly unfolds its plot. It's a good hour before "Pulse" even begins to suggest what might be going on.

To reveal too much of what's happening is to rob a moviegoer of the film's subtle, creepy impact, but a hazy synopsis is that people using the Internet are confronted with invitations to see a ghost. Some who accept ultimately commit suicide; others simply disappear.

When "Pulse" is at its artistic best, the film's camera focuses on a computer screen displaying murky, haunting, vibrating images of what appears to be humans or spectres. There is also a character's suicidal death drop that's perfectly filmed, the camera following the jump from tower top to the splat on the ground.

Despite its strengths, the movie seems disconnected as some scenes don't track and others arrive seemingly from nowhere. One character — a grad student — shows up only to posit a theory of what's happening and then disappear.

Like "Ringu" and "Ju-on: The Grudge," "Pulse" is creepy stuff involving phantoms from a netherworld. And like those two films, which became "The Ring" with Naomi Watts and "The Grudge" with Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Pulse" is getting an American makeover.

Coming later this year is The Weinstein Company's redo of "Pulse" starring Ian Somerhalder (TV's "Lost") and Kristen Bell (TV's "Veronica Mars").

Beware: Its preview trailer pointedly reveals every single plot nuance.

That's one way to kill a psychological horror movie.