That Sounds Scary
Gabrielle Margocs' Independent Study @ Austin College
Kairo vs. Pulse - Comapare and Contrast
Kairo is a film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, released during the middle of the J-horror wave in 2001. American director Jim Sonzero produced the 2006 remake with the script written by Wes Craven and Ray Wright. Kairo is 118 minutes, while Pulse is the Hollywood standard 90 minutes. Pulse follows some events and scenes directly to Kairo, yet also takes creative liberty and changes others. There is an overlaying theme/issue of lonliness in a digtally connected in both films, yet each film approaches a conclusion to this human seclusion differently.
The timeline of events, characters (plus gender), and character roles/actions are roughly the same. The main cast involved is: leading lady Michi/Matti, her friend and love interest Taguchi/Josh, stranger-turned-companion Ryosuke/Dex, and coworkers including Yoshizaki/Stone.
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I will focus on the audial similarities and differences between the film pair, and choose scenes that highlight the four elements to more fully understand how and why these sound aspects were used. The four scenes I have chosen that are in Kairo and remade in Pulse, become a basis for my cultural argument over explaining why these films kept certain sound elements and disregarded or altered others.
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Scenes:
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Michi/Matti decides to visit her friend, Taguchi/Josh, who has oddly not kept in touch recently. She finds him and his house in a mess- something has changed him.
Ryosuke/Dex has stumbled upon a strange and unsettling video on the internet; not yet knowing it's connection to the horrors that are about to begin.
After Taguchi/Josh has died, somehow he manages to commute through technology, crying for help from his friends.
As the unseen"virus" spreads across mankind, Yoshizaki/Stone unfortuately meets a victim turned ghost who is hunting the living.
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