Seems to me that the reason for people to hate this movie is because they don't understood what is going in it. And I can't say I blame them. If you don't know any of the background, that the story was originally supposed to be about, this is one confusing and just plain bad movie to watch, since this movie and its predecessor does such a bad and lazy job at explaining stuff. However if you have seen the first original Japanese movie "Kairo" you'll understand things a lot more and better and you will even be able to appreciate this movie better.
But having said that, this still isn't a very good movie. Thing with this movie is that it has a very thin storyline that it follows. At first you think that this is all an introduction to a greater, bigger plot-line but after half an hour in you start to realize that this is actually it. There isn't really a point to the story in terms of trying to resolve a great conflict or attempt to find answers and a way out of things. Stuff just happens in this movie and its weak main plot line is not strong enough to really hold everything together, or to make this a very effective movie to watch. The movie its characters simply also aren't good or likable enough for that. The characters that potentially did seem interesting and strong hardly get developed in this movie and are being pushed to the background, so they instead make a redundant impression.
It's not a typical horror movie, which might also be the reason why the movies series never praised or recognized. It's hard to say what is the right kind of audience for these movies. Horror fans surely won't like it enough and those who aren't really into horror will probably never have any intentions of seeing these movies because of its main, still horror-like, concept.
I don't really understand why the first "Pulse" movie ever spawned a sequel. It's not like it was a financial or critical acclaimed success. Maybe it was still due to it's promising and different main concept. It was definitely a series with potential, especially when you see how well the original Japanese movie worked out but non of the Hollywoodized remakes ever managed to capture the right mood and to keep the right ideas in the movie. Instead they made some bad choices and additions to the story, in an attempt to still gain the interest of the horror buffs.
Can't say I really hated this movie but it certainly isn't a very strong one.
5/10
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