PULSE (KAIRO) Asian New Classics

After a computer analyst commits suicide, his colleagues find a computer disc that conceals a virus that contaminates its users, radically changing their behavior.

A young computer analyst is found hanging in his apartment, leaving behind a dark stain on the wall. His friends, shocked and disturbed by this discovery, find a computer disk with a virus that seems to be a clue to his death. The virus turns up on other computers and starts to spread. These computers show foreboding images of people alone in their apartments. Others soon disappear, leaving behind more dark stains, and soon ghosts are turning up in rooms sealed with red tape. The remaining friends flee for their lives and encounter others left behind.

Kurosawa Kiyoshi has proven himself a talented, prolific filmmaker. He produces three to four films a year, each marked by his unique gift of pushing the genre to its limits. His choice here is the teenage horror genre, and the result is frightening and yet deeply philosophical.