So this has nothing to do with a more recent horror movie called Pulse ... neither the original nor the US remake of that more recent effort and stab at horror. No pun intended of course. This has 80s written all over it. For better or worse, which will be depending on how you view things and what your personal liking is of course.

The horror works quite fine and the family that plays the lead is very well cast too. If you are into supernatural horror you'll enjoy this ... There's really not much to add to that ... apart from characters not alway doing what would seem logical ... but then again what is logical in a world like that? Exactly ... other parameters that seem to define the fear of technology taking over ... or at least being more of an enemy to mankind rather than a helping hand ...

When we are little, they tell us not to mess with electricity, but they don't tell us what to do if electricity messes with us. In Pulse, a young boy, David (Joey Lawrence),finds himself powerless against a malevolent electrical force (of possibly extraterrestrial origin) that travels from house to house causing fatal accidents and fires.

The premise might sound a little far-fetched, but thanks to everyone involved opting to play it completely straight, the film comes across as a very credible techno horror/thriller, with Lawrence putting in a fine central performance as the boy who struggles to convince his father (Cliff De Young) of the truth.

Director Paul Golding keeps the action moving at a fairly measured pace, gradually building the tension up to the inevitable 'humans versus electricity' finale, but he also includes a couple of exciting set pieces along the way—David almost coming a cropper in the garage and the scalding of his stepmother Ellen (Roxanne Hart) in the shower—as well as delivering some impressive macro photography of melting circuits, fuses and wires, and a cool synth score, all of which makes Pulse a nifty little '80s treat.

Young boy David (a winning performance by Joey Lawrence of the TV show "Blossom") is spending the week with his estranged, hard-working father Bill (the always solid Cliff De Young) and new stepmother Ellen (a fine Roxanne Hart). David notices that the electricity in the house has taken on a lethal and malevolent life of its own, but can't convince either his dad or stepmom that something's amiss.

Writer/director Paul Golding makes this fantastic premise seem fairly credible and extremely chilling by carefully evoking a thoroughly plausible everyday mundane world that's ripped violently asunder by a bizarre and inexplicable phenomenon (Golding's stubborn refusal to provide some kind of valid explanation for why the electricity is acting up adds a truly eerie and unnerving ambiguity to the picture). Moreover, Golding successfully creates believable and sympathetic characters and offers a gradual build-up of skin-crawling tension which culminates in a positively harrowing and nerve-wracking climax with all the electricity going dangerously haywire. Peter Lyons Collister's exceptional macro photography, Jay Ferguson's shuddery score, and the first-rate special effects further contribute to the film's sterling quality. Kudos are also in order for the uniformly ace acting; veteran character actor Charles Tyner has a colorfully quirky supporting part as a nutty old paranoid electrician and Robert Romanus (Mike Damone in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") pops up in a cool cameo as a smooth-talking TV repairman. Spooky and intense, "Pulse" rates as a real nifty little sci-fi/horror sleeper.