5. Kairo (Pulse)

Kairo (Pulse) Trailer

In Japan, there are tons of movies with the prototype ghost figure. Female. Long black hair. Seeking revenge. This is largely because ghost stories are very prominent in Japanese culture. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of several top-tier directors using these tales to concoct haunting, mysterious and often complex films. They are not always classified as horror per se, but most hinge on the horrors of daily existence. Throw in contemporary technology, and it’s a recipe for a film like 2001’s Kairo (Pulse). The legendary Wes Craven (of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) remade the film for American audiences in 2006.

The original is a little dated, but rather amusing with its now antique-like hardware and computer programs. The premise is however, still relevant and current. A young man commits suicide, and one by one, his friends start discovering a freaky Internet site. Or this is what Kurosawa would have his protagonists believe. Soon, ghosts appear to be crossing over from computer screen into the land of the living. What seem to be the ‘leftovers’ of a growing number of suicides, find one another and try to flee the incomprehensible invasion of the Dead.

Atmospheric, chilling, and nerve-wracking; the film is effective even with so many newer films using the same fear tactics. There are plenty of nails-digging-into-chair shivers induced by computer monitors, security camera-like footage, and proximity between innocent victim and ruthless evil. Red duct tape, forbidden rooms, and strange ashy marks on walls...there is a mystery to crack while also seeking safety. Though the entities the humans are up against are lost souls rather than demonic beings, the invasion occurs nevertheless. Just like in Dark Skies (later in this list) and The Conjuring, the survivors need to pool resources to get out of danger. This, from a type of menace that cannot be killed, but perhaps kept at bay somehow.

Kurosawa films are much about tension caused by mood, pacing, and a reluctance to spoon-feed all the answers to the viewer. In many ways, the foreboding sense of helplessness far surpasses a film that effectively scared the bejeezus out of audiences (The Conjuring). Without involving guns, blades or splattered blood, the sequences in the Forbidden Rooms are just skin-crawling, and probably will give the faint of heart night terrors.

The climate feels a bit less claustrophobic than films that employ the House metaphor as a way to trap the victims. Kairo’s characters are free to roam from location to location, but sometimes with deadly results. In the end, they are still trapped, but on a larger scale. Our Planet itself becomes the ‘prison’ as the full-on infiltration of otherworldly beings spread throughout not just Japan, but also the entire world. This one is a slow-burn.