PULSE (1988)

Saša Avramović

October 22, 2024

PULSE (1988)

(Note: this text was published 10 years ago on my former blog, Cinematic Nightmares)

The only feature film by Paul Golding, PULSE is one of those films that take forever to start, and by the time you get to the main part, you’ve mostly lost interest. The payoff is decent, nothing extraordinary, but it works for this film.

David (Joey Lawrence) is spending some time with his father (Cliff De Young) and stepmother (Roxanne Hart). The new family setup is somewhat stereotypical – the father is always working, neglecting his family responsibilities (he’ll come to his senses by the end), while the stepmother tries to be kind to the new family member. Soon, things get more complicated by mysterious voices and electrical surges. It appears as though the house’s electrical installations has come to life with a sinister plan for its residents.

In the first hour, we mostly follow David’s confusion and struggle to cope with the strange situation and the weird behavior of the electrical system, with little directorial effort to craft intriguing or suspenseful moments. Scenes of the kid staring at sparking wires, screens, and circuits become repetitive, and that’s about it until the last third of the film. There are a few decent scenes during the first two acts, especially the scenes that show metal fusion in an almost organic way. Also, the failed escape and the struggle in the gas-filled garage is a well-directed sequence with enough tension and danger.

As for the effects, they’re quite good considering the budget – it’s clear that a lot of effort went into them. But overall, there isn’t enough tension and fear present in the film for it to be more effective. The direction is sluggish for the most part, except for a few mentioned scenes, and the film only comes to life in the last third when the electricity goes into the full assault mode. Here we get a well-done scene where the stepmother is horribly scalded by hot water in the bathroom, followed by a series of chase scenes around the house and battles with the electrical system that fully came to life and into an assualt mode, scenes that manage to hold a decent amount of suspense.

The actors mostly try their best, but the script gives them little to build their characters on, so don’t expect too much. The screenplay is full of holes and inconsistencies, and one of its weak points is the nature of the threat. I’m not one of those who needs everything spelled out, I don’t want things over-explained, quite the opposite – but in this case, I feel that we needed a little bit more clarification. Why is the electricity attacking? What’s behind it – human interference, some supernatural entity, ghosts, what? It doesn’t need to be fully explained, just hinted at, but here we’re left without any foundation, and that’s a drawback, at least for this particular film. It’s a shame, as there was potential here for much more quality horror and excellent scenes.