‘Sinister’ Didn’t Scare Me at All, but I Lost Sleep Over This 10/10 J-Horror (It's Free!)

‘Sinister’ Didn’t Scare Me at All, but I Lost Sleep Over This 10/10 J-Horror (It's Free!)
Image credit: Toho

Science declared it the “scariest movie ever,” but I laughed my way through Sinister. Meanwhile, this Japanese gem kept me up for days.

Horror movies serve many purposes, but first and foremost, they must be scary. If you're having a hard time finding a horror that would genuinely scare you and even Sinister (supposedly the scariest movie according to science) did nothing, I've got your back.

For those who don't easily get scared, I present to you: Pulse (2001).

‘Pulse’ Is the Kind of Movie Even Stephen King Would Approve Of

Unlike predictable Hollywood horror films filled with jump scares, this movie creeps under your skin and refuses to let go. Pulse is about people who stumble upon hints that spirits are trying to enter the human world via the Internet.

‘Sinister’ Didn’t Scare Me at All, but I Lost Sleep Over This 10/10 J-Horror (It's Free!) - image 1

The premise may sound simple, but that's the point. Horror doesn't require a large scale to thrive off on. In fact, the simpler and more grounded the idea is, the more terrifying a film can be for viewers. Stephen King himself believes in this.

“Horror is not spectacle, and never will be. Horror is an unknown actress, perhaps the girl next door, cowering in a cabin with a knife in her hands we know she’ll never be able to use,” King wrote in his Entertainment Weekly article.

Fans’ Thoughts on ‘Pulse’': The Perfect Digital Nightmare

‘Sinister’ Didn’t Scare Me at All, but I Lost Sleep Over This 10/10 J-Horror (It's Free!) - image 2

  • On Rotten Tomatoes, Pulse has 75% from critics and 60% from the audience.

  • On IMDb, Pulse is rated 6.5/10.

“PULSE is absolutely worth a watch or a revisit if you’re into that slow burn, dread-inducing style of horror, with some commentary that is still very relevant today; as modern social media sometimes seems to divide us rather than bring us together, and bring more suffering than joy,” Redditor Selkanator wrote.

“Pulse is freaking awesome, an all time classic. Scary as hell, and while you would think it would age poorly given its dependence on old tech horror, I think it's absolutely relevant and will always be,” another fan on Reddit pointed out.

‘Sinister’ Didn’t Scare Me at All, but I Lost Sleep Over This 10/10 J-Horror (It's Free!) - image 3

“[It has] great cinematography, great sound design, the score was really good, and I really like the actors. I also loved the sets, I think it's a great time capsule of the Y2K era,” Redditor astro_plane said.

Where to Watch ‘Pulse’ for Free?

You can find Pulse on Hoopla, Plex and Fawesome completely free of charge.

🧡
😁
👏
🤔
😡
Crush of the day
Ruairi O'Connor (Orpheus) - Crush of the day
Ruairi O'Connor (Orpheus) From: The Sandman

Have you heard him sing?

or
Hot (33%) Not (67%)