Cult Cinema: Pulse (1988) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures

The Los Angeles based film production company Aspen Film Society founded in 1976 by standup comedian, actor, writer and musician Steve Martin with record producer William E. McEuen had their first major hit with the Universal Pictures comedy classic The Jerk before moving on to Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and The Man With Two Brains before striking gold with Tim Burton’s directorial debut Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.  

Unfortunately, however, the rising comedy film production company fell on hard times after the still perplexing decision to make a hard right turn into science-fiction horror with The Passover Plot and Beat Street screenwriter Paul Golding’s one and only directorial effort, the ‘ultimate shocker’ Pulse from 1988.  Two films later after the $6 million chiller flopped theatrically, playing only in Oklahoma and Texas to roughly $40K in returns before going straight to video, Aspen Film Society disbanded.  What’s here, while far from masterful, deserves some measure of reappraisal and not to be known as the film that killed the company behind The Jerk and is more the result of changing hands in management than anything in the film itself.

 
In a premise predating Shocker while drawing some elements from The Entity, Pulse is told from the perspective of a child boy named David Rockland (Joey Lawrence) who goes to spend time with his father Bill (Cliff De Young from Shock Treatment and Flight of the Navigator) and new stepmother Ellen (Roxanne Hart).  On the night of David’s arrival at his dad’s home, they notice the neighbor across the street is going berserk destroying all the electrical appliances in his home before perishing, sparking the boy’s curiosity.  

Amid his father’s ongoing divorce, David starts noticing more and more unusual electrical phenomena occurring in his home.  After going to investigate the now abandoned taped off wreck across the street, a chance encounter with a kooky neighbor (Charles Tyner from Planes, Trains & Automobiles) confirms his suspicion something malevolent inside the electrical grid is responsible for their neighbor’s death and is now coming back to kill David and his family too.  Can the boy convince his disbelieving dad and stepmom they’re in danger before they’re next?

 
Written and directed by Paul Golding, the offshoot of Steve Martin’s film company stemmed from two disparate events experienced by the director, one of which involved eventual cinematographer Caleb Deschanel who commented on ‘the sounds of the house’ and that it was ‘alive and the other involving a computer which became self-aware and reset itself.  Initially attempted in 1981 under numerous working titles including House, Tract and Currents before ultimately settling on Pulse seven years later when Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the film, the slick little sci-fi horror flick includes arresting visual effects by the Oxford Scientific Films group of electricity moving about in ways that feel organic and like they’re within the camera rather than done in post. 
 
Shot generally in lower light levels so the electricity effects register onscreen by Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers cinematographer Peter Lyons Collister, the look of Pulse is homey and brownish during daytime scenes before going into a kind of James Cameron bluish look.  The soundtrack by rock musician Jay Ferguson who did Pictures of You for The Terminator soundtrack as well as the score for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child is generally synth heavy lo-fi keyboarding that befits the already electrified settings.  

Cliff De Young whose finest hour remains the racist Colonel Montgomery in Glory gives a good everyman performance of a practical father who cares for his son but can’t bring himself to believe his fairy tales about electrical demons.  Joey Lawrence as the young boy David gives a strong role as a child star in a PG-13 rated fantasy horror film though fans of Brotherly Love are inclined to watch for Mrs. Doubtfire brother Matthew Lawrence as the kid’s next door neighbor.
 
After positive test screenings at Columbia under then-CEOs David Picker and David Puttnam’s tenure, the film was gearing up for a national theaterwide release in 70mm for New York and Los Angeles.  However, changing hands booted Picker and Puttnam out and ushered in new CEO Dawn Steel who more or less dumped the film into 125 theaters in only two states with little to no promotion before quietly appearing on video store shelves.  As expected, the filmmakers accused Steel of prejudice against preexisting properties under Picker and Puttnam.  

Despite these unfair rollbacks against the movie by someone who had nothing to do with the production, Pulse still garnered a cult following and was critically well received.  Just a year later, Wes Craven got into the electrified horror arena with his critically maligned Shocker, proof positive there was interest in the concept.  Seen now, it still has some nifty stuff in it and makes you wonder about the power systems we’ve taken for granted.  Most certainly one of the most underrated kid oriented thrillers featuring both of the Brotherly Love child stars.

--Andrew Kotwicki