Whoever decided that "technology as evil" horror movies were a viable source of terror needs to give their head a shake. In my eyes, it's almost impossible to garner any sort of fear from a ringing cell phone, a camera, or a fuzzy Internet connection. Yet, in 2008 alone, we've been hit with just that as One Missed Call, Shutter, and (the object of my disdain here) Pulse 2 have arrived. All of these films have one thing in common: that they are based on Asian genre films. However, in the case of this sequel, Dimension films decided that the original was successful enough that they've hired their "go to" sequel scribe Joel Soisson to write and direct this direct-to-dvd follow-up that amounts to nothing more than a misfire gap on the way to the, already in production, third entry.

Soisson has decided to keep things rolling from the 2006 original and has set things in a World where technology has forced people to hide in their homes and start small refugee camps in the wilderness where things such as cell phone signals can't reach. He's also carried over the idea that red tape can somehow block the transmissions of our static-y ghosts and kicks things off on a ridiculous foot as we see a guy clad completely in red, with a taped up face and what looks like 3-D glasses, wandering the streets while avoiding ghosts and melting down humans. It's a scene that really doesn't pertain to the story, at least until later on, and it doesn't exactly bode well for the viewer, who might not have an idea of what to expect from this point.

I will say that if you're not familiar with the first film, you'll probably be lost early on as Soisson doesn't make a lot of effort to draw new viewers into the story. Hell, I've seen the first and even I was confused for the first twenty minutes or so. Believe me when I tell you that the first third of Pulse 2 is nothing more than a muddled f*cking mess of a movie.

Michelle (Georgina Rylance) wakes up in her apartment surrounded by ashes and unsure of where her young daughter, Justine (Karley Scott Collins) has gone. There are no clues at to where she is and the infection (that causes people to sprout black jagged lines along their bodies and eventually disintegrate) is continuing to spread. Michelle sets-out to locate her. Meanwhile, ex-husband Stephen (Jamie Bamber) is also trying to figure out where his daughter is after he visits Michelle's apartment and finds evidence she might have been hurt by her mother.

That's when the script becomes a huge ball of stupid. While Michelle is haunted by visions, meets random weirdo's on the streets, and ends-up at her Aunt's house (who is also acting strangely), Stephen manages to find Justine and takes her away to join the group he's hidden out with in the wild that includes his new girlfriend, Marta (Boti Bliss, who's only true purpose here is to show her goods in one of the movie's few decent moments). We soon learn that Michelle is dead, that she wants her daughter back, and that she'll do anything to track them down to get her. It's one of the few ideas Soisson brings to the table and, granted, it could've been an intriguing one, but things just don't work out that way as most of the movie feels like it's spinning its wheels aimlessly and going nowhere.

As if the weak story wasn't enough, there's also a completely pointless scene of Michelle's Uncle eating his dead cat's entrails and wiping it all over his body that's merely here to attempt to shock/sicken the viewer and various characters who only seem to be here for the purpose of being victims in the film's couple of ho-hum horror set pieces. Even the couple of pretty neat moments involving Marta's meltdown and a gas station attendants demise can't make-up for my constant irritation at the script.

If you enjoyed the original, you might find something here, but this plays out like most of Soisson's "for hire" horror sequels: it's mostly worthless and not worth the effort. You have to remember that this is the guy responsible for penning entries in The Prophecy, Mimic, and Hellraiser series - take from that what you will. (Chris Hartley, 9/24/08)

Directed By: Joel Soisson.
Written By: Joel Soisson.

Starring: Jamie Bamber, Georgina Rylance, Karley Scott Collins, Boti Bliss.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The picture here is clean and free of debris and apart from a few moments of jagged lines looks about as decent as most of Dimension Extreme's other releases. It's too new to look bad on DVD and it doesn't.

Extras: Apart from a trailer and a couple of deleted scenes that add nothing to the proceedings, we get a group commentary track that includes writer-director Soisson and various others involved in the production (five people in total) which leads to a few moments where you're not sure who's speaking but isn't as confusing as other commentaries I've heard in the past. It doesn't offer up much of interest, though, and I found myself disinterested in it at a fairly early stage.