The Best Foreign Supernatural Movies Ever

5.'Pulse' (2001)
Country: Japan
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
AKA: 'Kairo'

What's It About? As Kudo and her friends try to figure out why their friend Taguchi committed suicide, his spectral image begins to appear on a computer disk he was working on and he leaves messages on her phone begging for help from the afterlife. Soon, people begin to randomly and mysteriously disappear, leaving behind only shadowy imprints. Meanwhile, Ryosuke's computer exhibits a life of its own, exposing him to images of ghosts, leading him to believe that their unrest souls are invading the earthly realm.

Why Is it Awesome? The "J-horror" scene was swallowed up by Hollywood, who churned out tame remakes -- including a 2006 remake of 'Pulse' -- and then burned audiences on the same repeated spooky imagery, until it all became cliché. But where 'Pulse' shines is in the totally creepy atmosphere created by director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With 'Pulse' he takes the "ghost in the machine" trope that was worn out so heavily, and pushes it to an apocalyptic conclusion. The supernatural is represented as both the traditional "ghost," and as a lingering image of despair that invoked the atomic bomb blasts of WWII. In a world that is becoming increasingly industrialized and technologically connected, 'Pulse' is proof that it can still be a scary, lonely place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOEpIDa6_s&feature=player_embedded