Josh’s Bargain Basement – Pulse 2: Afterlife

Films are our life here at Geek actually, really, its in the word geek. Unlike other people we don’t just watch a film a week or go to the cinema for the big films. We live, breath and dream about our passions. Naturally, this means we watch a huge amount of films. Some are great, some are absolutely trash. This new section of the site explores the films we usually don’t report on. The worst of the worst. The films that you will see here probably never made cinema and often very nearly missed DVD altogether. Welcome to Josh’s Bargain Basement Movies.

Pulse 2: Afterlife

Did you ever have that friend that tried a little to hard? When everyone was into something popular, they were always the one that had the deluxe edition and all the add ons? Well, Pulse 2: Afterlife is kind of like that friend. With this film following on from a horror that was average to begin with, the most you would expect is some good deaths and possibly some interesting additions to the series mythology. However Pulse 2: Afterlife aims much higher than that, it wants to give you drama, tension, passion and horror. Failing at all of the above.

The story follows a family of people trying to survive in this post apocalyptic world where technology is basically evil and red is your only defence, that’s right… Red. This is a very basic description but to go into it in any greater detail hurts my brain due to very little connected plot drive. People are trying to survive, a few people die, this one guy is trying to save/destroy the world. However, he is only in the film for ten minutes then leaves and is never seen again. Leaving me without any validation for his existence. Are you beginning to see why I didn’t bother? The story goes nowhere and fizzles out with a very average and sloppy conclusion.

Oddly, even with all of the hate and confusion I had for this film, it still managed to effect me. I have never had this during a bad film before, but I began to feel sorry for it. The awful use of green screen and the average scares were painful to sit through, but the lead actor Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) puts his heart into the film. Every time I wanted to put this film down and give up, Jamie would throw in another decent segment of acting in and I would feel bad for having my finger on the eject button.

I think this is my general conclusion on the film, it’s almost terrible. It’s not funny, it’s not scary, it’s not well written but it has good acting… sometimes. This film is like a reviewer’s Kryptonite, it just doesn’t fit on a scale at all. Good thing we make our own…

Verdict: Wait till you find it lying in the street. Possibly outside my house.

Pulse 2: Afterlife is written and directed by Joel Soisson and stars Jamie Bamber, Todd Giebenhain, Diane Ayala Goldner and Rachel Robinson. It is available now in DVD bargain bins everywhere.

Catch Josh’s Bargain Basement on our podcast by listening to Film Actually every week. You can find it here or search for it on iTunes.

1 comment

    • Anonymous on January 21, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    lol, I remember seeing the pulse when I was a youngin, it was the midday movie at the time, showing a horror movie at midday is fail enough on its own without the crappy plot that came with it.

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