Hacker horror tale not total hack job

PULSE Rating 2 out of 4

Mattie . . . . . . . . . Kristen Bell

Isabell . . . . . . Christina Milian

Dexter . . . . . Ian Somerhalder

Dimension Films presents a film directed by Jim Sonzero. Writtenby Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Wes Craven, based on Kurosawa's "Kairo."Running time: 88 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi terror, disturbing images, language, sensuality and thematicmaterial). Now playing at local theaters.

'Pulse," yet another Americanized version of a Japanese horrorflick, is extremely high concept -- and trying very hard to be AboutSomething.

It's intended as an indictment of our overdependence oncommunications devices, but the premise is unbelievable: A computerhacker unleashes a wireless signal that sucks the life out ofeveryone who comes into contact with it, prompting mass suicides andurban chaos.

Its grotesque, quasi-human images come in jumpy blips and flashes,similar to those in the Japanese-inspired "Ring" movies. They cancome right at you through the screen, and they even know how to useprinters and Web cams!

Wireless laptops can trigger them, cell phones -- you name it,anything with a signal. Only by hiding in a dead zone can anyone hopeto live.

But you do have to give "Pulse" some credit: The film isincredibly intense and moody, with characters and dialogue that arefar more grounded in reality than those of most frightfests (maybethat's because horror master Wes Craven co-wrote the script, based onKiyoshi Kurosawa's original "Kairo"). Jim Sonzero directed the moviein varying shades of metallic green and gray.

"Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder are amongthe college students fighting to survive in a paranoid world(specifically Columbus, Ohio) that resembles the apocalyptic settingyou'd see in a zombie movie. Bell, who stars as Mattie, watches herboyfriend succumb to this mysterious force, then tracks downSomerhalder's Dexter, who bought the villainous computer.

As previous computer-themed thrillers like "The Net" and"Firewall" have shown, it's hard to build suspense through keystrokes and letters and numbers on a screen. But the supernatural wi-fi element of "Pulse" allows the characters to become potentialvictims anywhere they go. It's just that easy!