Japanese horror movies are in a class of their own. From the goofy special effects of House to the cultural relevance of The Ring to the blockbuster that is Godzilla, J-horror has always made a chilling impact, even to global audiences.
In 2001, Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed Pulse, a now-classic techno-horror following a ghostly invasion occurring over the still-novel internet. It revolutionized horror at the time with its embrace of technology and its restraint with its visuals, instead relying on anticipation and a creeping sense of dread. Now, a quarter century later, Pulse is getting a brand-new remake from a promising director.
Dave Boyle will direct a new “reimagining” of 2001 Japanese horror movie Pulse.
Deadline reports that director Dave Boyle will direct a “reimagining” of Pulse. Boyle is currently gearing up for the release of a similarly supernatural horror movie, Never After Dark, so the choice makes perfect sense. Though Boyle is American, he’s been making movies about Japan for his entire career, beginning with 2006’s Big Dreams Little Tokyo, which he also starred in. You may have seen his work in the delightful Netflix series House of Ninjas.
While he seems like the ideal choice for a Pulse remake, he’s not the first one to tackle the task. In 2006, Jim Sonzero — a director best known for music videos and video game cutscenes — made an English-language reboot starring Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder. While the film did in fact make a profit at the box office, it was damned by the comparison to the Japanese original from only five years earlier and was lambasted by critics. Regardless, the movie got two sequels, Pulse 2: Afterlife and Pulse 3. These sequels, however, were completely unrelated to the first film, and the only throughline was the techno-horror premise. (Pulse 3 took things a step even further and followed characters in a dystopian society where technology is banned.)
Pulse was already given a lackluster English-language remake in 2006.
At this point, a Pulse remake has already been attempted, and it didn’t hold a candle to the original. Can Boyle do it justice? Perhaps the first remake is actually a cautionary tale: English-language remakes don’t have to “Americanize” their source material. Nowhere in this announcement does it say that Boyle’s version will be in English. While many of his movies are in English, Never After Dark is entirely in Japanese. Boyle wrote that film and is doing a pass of this remake’s script as well, so it’s possible that this movie will be in Japanese as well — or maybe even a blend of the two languages.
When an American director is announced for a remake, fans usually know what to expect. But Boyle’s extensive history with both Japanese culture and horror could mean we’ll get a true reimagining of the original.
