User Reviews

To the untrained eye the eighties slasher boom will always be traced back to the template of John Carpenter's Halloween. In reality however, there were three key genre pieces that became the outlines for ambitious titles to follow. The success of Carpenter's seminal flick was indeed responsible for the peak in the cycle, but Friday the 13th must take its share of credit for launching the mass of killer in the woods titles, which included Don't go in the Woods, Just Before Dawn, The Prey and more recently Camp Blood. Another offering that can also be attributed with generating a long line of mostly inferior imitations was Amy Holden Jones' Slumber Party Massacre. Despite being initially received unenthusiastically by critics and audiences alike, Jones' splatter flick eventually managed to achieve cult status and went on to inspire the likes of Sorority House Massacre, The Last Slumber Party, Blood Sisters, Cheerleader Massacre and Anthony J Christopher's Fatal Pulse from 1988.

Sororities were never a safe place during the eighties and Fatal Pulse is no exemption to the rule. After co-eds begin turning up murdered around the campus, Jeff Kramer (Ken Roberts) is immediately put in the frame when it is revealed that he was the last person to see one of the victims before she was slaughtered. Aided by his lumbering buddy Mark (Blair Karsch), Jeff sets out on a mission to prove his innocence and catch the psychopath before he kills again. As the bodies pile up, Jeff begins to realise that his girlfriend Lisa (Michelle McCormick) could be next on the assassin's list.

Fatal Pulse is truly a bizarre movie experience, which combines moments of mediocrity, stupidity, inadvertent comedy and uncomfortable brutality to conjure up a somewhat authentic juxtaposition. The performances were laughably hideous; especially from Ken Roberts, who boasted the expressive fluency of a turnip. Seriously, I have seen wooden bridges with more emotional definition. Michelle McCormick made for an incredibly unapproachable final girl and the whole cast delivered their lines with the conviction of a toilet cleaner on the day before retirement. They were hardly aided by a woefully uninspired script, which added just about every stereotype from the annals of bad-movie obscurity. Brad the obnoxious 'tough guy' was characterised as some kind of odd fifties 'Grease' throwback, whilst the token comic relief inclusion, Mark, was greeted by a peculiar 'boing' effect in the soundtrack upon his every arrival. Strangely enough, this even occurred during a suspense scene towards the film's conclusion. Boing!

Director Anthony Christopher mimics the giallo titans of yesteryear, by conveying every murder scene from the view of the black gloved assassin. Mario Bava was a master of creating artistic suspense in his set pieces, whereas Christopher fails to generate even a millisecond. Despite the disappointedly fast-paced nature of the murders, their merciless brutality does provide a somewhat reverse spiral on the quality of the feature. Even heavily financed slashers such as Friday the 13th failed to add convincing viciousness to their slaughters. Despite being laughably lacklustre in almost every department, Fatal Pulse is surprisingly sadistic to its victims. The electrocution sequence was particularly mean spirited, but any credibility gained is certainly hindered by the fact that *every* victim manages to flash her heaving breasts before being executed. An advertisement for feminism in the slasher industry Fatal Pulse certainly is not.

The score also becomes an irritation with consistent screeching synthesizer accompaniment, whilst the less said about the 'jazz band on acid' intro music, the better. As Fatal Pulse is a bad eighties movie, it characteristically offers its share of bad eighties movie moments, which have become lovably nostalgic for many retro cheese fans. Part of the story involves an un-engaging romance between the two emotionless leads, and there are plenty of inadvertent laughs to be had when the couple go cycling to the strains of an eighties pop monstrosity. Also watch out for a bizarre and somewhat inexplicable scene involving comic relief character Mark (boing) and a Captain Marvell outfit. I won't ruin it for you by explaining it here, but it almost beggars belief.

The killer does have a fairly intriguing motive and to be fair the last 15 minutes manage to add some decent tension to the final chase sequence. But it's tough to recommend Fatal Pulse for any kind of recognition as it is just too poorly conceived….

I usually enjoy these kinds of movies. A masked killer infiltrates a sorority and begins to knock of the beautiful ladies one by one. Movies like SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE and SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE 2 had the cheesy, inept charm that made them irresistible to horror fans. This...is just a bland, badly acted entry in the slasher genre. FATAL PULSE is about a black-gloved killer stalking and slashing members of a college sorority. I can understand why very few people have even heard of this movie. For one, it offers nothing new to the genre, all of the actors are wooden and look constipated when having to display fear. It's also hard to keep track of how many characters there are. They are introduced only to be killed off a couple minutes later. It sports a nice body count, but I just didn't care for any of the characters due to the poor character development. Also, you the typical red herrings. There's Ernie (the oh so wonderful Joe Estevez) a tormented Vietnam vet who owns the sorority house, the leads douche-bag boyfriend and a college professor (I think. I lost track to be honest). Of course, the killer is no surprise. But I'll let you find out for yourself.

Overall, FATAL PULSE is a late, yet woefully inept entry in the genre that has become nearly impossibly rare and to some, underrated. Slasher fans only should seek this out, if only for curiosity's sake. But remember... I WARNED YOU!

I'm relatively convinced that, back in the 1980's, there existed a book called "slashers for dummies" and it got passed around from one amateur director onto the next. How else would you explain the massive overload of lousy and righteously long-forgotten 80's slashers made by people who never again accomplished anything noteworthy in the film industry? "Fatal Pulse" is a wondrous example of the formulaic, by-the-numbers slasher culture. Any dreadful cliché you can possibly link to this sub genre actually features here, and in excessively large proportions. The murders occur at regular intervals and appear to be timed punctually, literally ALL the characters are walking-talking stereotypes, the gore and nudity factor is enormous and extremely misogynic (because, remember, the "slasher for dummies" guide prescribes that these films are particularly popular amongst perverted male audiences) and the final shock-revelation regarding the killer's identity is downright preposterous. Two line summary: the tenants of an all-girl sorority house are picked off one by one by a mysterious killer wearing black gloves. The first victim's ex-boyfriend is the prime suspect, but naturally he refuses to turn himself in and attempts to unmask the killer himself.

I feel I really must elaborate on the cast of characters in this case. It's really worth it. Never before I witnessed such an incredibly large posse of losers, bimbos, imbeciles and marionettes. The film is worth checking out for the characters alone:

The female murder victims: ALL these college coeds are brainless blond bimbos that look alike. I suppose because blonds have more fun? I actually couldn't keep them apart if it weren't for their different cup- sizes. Some of them have small breasts, but others (like the poor girl who gets thrown out of a second storey window) have really impressive blouse-bunnies. Apparently they also all signed a contract that stated they MUST go topless, whether relevant to their big murder scene or not. In some cases the killer strips off their tops just for the hell of it. I'm honestly not claiming that all blonds are dumb by definition, but these babes truly are. You don't need a degree in quantum physics to know that someone targets all the girls of the same house for murder, yet they all stick around literally waiting to be butchered bare- chested.

The suspects: dig this, the sorority house's landlord is a mentally unstable and heavily traumatized Vietnam veteran (illustrated in a sequence where he hears screaming and gunfire whilst stroking a G.I. Joe doll) who's – on top of that – also a peeping tom. Obviously the script wants you to believe that he is the killer. His psychopathic stare might perhaps not convince you entirely, so we make sure that he's spotted around every girl just moments before she dies. Of course, if you really believe he's the culprit, well, then you're just as dumb as the writers of this turkey – no offense. He's a creep, but totally harmless. The only other potential culprit is a sophisticated art teacher who plays chess and a runaway cast member from "Grease". Hmm…

The police: I can be quite brief about the involvement of the authorities in "Fatal Pulse". The homicide detective in charge makes two appearances, even though there's a total of seven murders. The first time, he allows for a prime suspect to run away from the scene of the crime and the second time he doesn't even remember the name of the same prime suspect. Enough said.

The "heroes": oh boy. The lead hero spends the entire running time trying to convince his girlfriend that he didn't kill anyone, rather than just go to the police and provide an alibi. Surely he was doing something at the time of murders? The runaway cast member from "Grease" is his nemesis and tries really hard to get him sent to jail. Our hero then decides to solve the murders by himself, along with the help of his (only?) friend. This guy is a total retard who spends his days watching cartoons and wearing ridiculous hats. For some inexplicable reason, a very stupid "poin-n-g" sound is heard whenever this guy is about to enter the scene. Imagine the sound of a jack-in-the-box toy, even though there isn't a jack-in-the-box in sight.

The climax, apart from being predictable, is also very stupid. All of a sudden the film comes up with a pseudo-ambitious variant on the famous "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" theme, but seriously who cares? There are no more topless wenches left to be slaughtered, the hero cleared his name and the guy they wanted you to believe was the killer saved the day. Oh, and the cops don't even bother to come clean up the mess. End of movie. Hooray!

Since my taste in movies are slasher movies, I tend to enjoy movies that are typically described as bad by others. I'm used to seeing through bad acting, bad directing, bad writing, and maybe even a predictable plot line. However, one thing that I don't see through in these types of movies is misogyny. I can't stand slasher films that target women exclusively (or in this case, only) as murder victims. Films like New York Ripper (1982) or Blood Cult (1985) along with a couple other slasher films have a high case of sexism against women, and this movie is no exception.

After a fight with her boyfriend, Jeff (Ken Roberts), a young woman named Stephanie (Kitty) is murdered by a mysterious assailant in her sorority house. Jeff then teams up with his ex-girlfriend, Lisa (Michelle McCormick), to find the killer. However, several more sorority sisters are being murdered in horrifying ways, and once Lisa finds herself alone with the killer, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues through the basement of the sorority house. Will Lisa make it out alive, or will she be the killer's next victim?

The movie is definitely towards the bottom on a ranking of slasher films, this being because of it's misogyny, it's bad acting, and it's horrible plot development. There isn't much going for the movie. I think the only positives would be the mystery of the killer, and Lisa, who makes a fairly likable heroine. There are some horribly mean spirited and EXTREMELY sexist murder scenes, such as a sweet innocent young sorority sister being tied up to a bed post, having her shirt ripped off, and being slowly electrocuted. Also, there is some random character named Mark who seems to pop up every once in a while (accompanied by a 'boing' sound effect!) to supposedly add randomness and humor to the scene, but it only makes the scene worse.

Overall, this film I do not recommend. It is violent, mean spirited, cheesy, misogynistic, and overall bad.

This is a unique film. It's a soap slasher. I've seen quite a few slashers already, but for not one of them I ever thought up the term 'soap slasher'. The reason for this is simple: It looks like a soap, but it's a slasher. If this mixture has you thinking "Hmm, this must be a pretty good movie then...", then you haven't seen one single 80's soap episode yet. But that's neither here or there. So, is "Fatal Pulse" a good movie?

If by definition a good movie has a fair amount of blond ladies baring their breasts naked, then this is a good movie. If by definition a slasher film is good because it has a fair amount of blond ladies dying on-screen, then this movie is top. And if by definition a slasher film is good when it doesn't contain any gore, then this film is pretty excellent. I think maybe I just got a little off with this definition thing.

So let's try a different angle... If by definition a Giallo is a murder mystery where the killer can be seen wearing black gloves every time he kills a lady, then this film is a Giallo. And when applying the 'bigger = better' principle, it also must be a good Giallo. Because these black gloves are huge. I mean, so big that they cover up both lower arm regions. The black gloves are responsible for violently murdered females in this film. You're also supposed to guess who the killer is and there are several amazing red herrings adding to the mystery. And there's an arrogant detective running around asking questions. This has to be a fine Giallo for sure.

Nah, who am I kidding? It's a soap slasher.

But there's another thing... All girls that get knocked off, live in the same sorority house. Throughout the movie several characters keep pointing out that all (soon-to-be) victims are living in the same house. So it might as well be a horror-soap about a house that kills. Like in... The Strange Case Of The Six Blond Ladies In The Cursed House That Kills With The Big Black Gloves. There, I told you this was a Giallo film. But no, it's not. Would you believe me if I told you that it's actually a modern update of the "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" story? No? Well okay then, because it's probably not that either. But my point is: the 'all-in-the-same' house angle is completely irrelevant. Someone is killing blonds, period. Even outside the house.

You can also forget about the detective angle in the plot. The only thing this clever investigator manages to do, is remember someone's name. So who's performing these nasty killings then? There's a janitor suffering from Vietnam flashbacks and he likes caressing a G.I. Joe doll. We also have a professor with a migraine. Then there's a nitwit punk rocker who likes blond bimbos. And there's another guy who says he didn't do it. Take your pick.

There are six blond lady victims and they all expose their naked breasts before they die. That's 12 tits you get to see. By all means, that's not a bad average for any slasher movie. What's the killer's fascination with naked boobs? I have no idea. But to further arouse your interest in this astonishing motion picture, here are the ways our cute blond girls die:

#1 - death by strangulation on a bed while dressed in sexy lingerie (minus the bra, of course)

#2 - throat slicing by a record, the vinyl kind where you can put a needle to and music comes out of it (this girl didn't show her breasts prior to dying, but have no fear, she showed them earlier in the movie already)

#3 - drowning in a bathtub (always a classic)

#4 - electrocution by a remote regulator attached to an undefinable metal construction

#5 - flying through an attic window

#6 - naked death by plaster (yes, that white substance you rub out until it hardens)

Such are the glorious ways of a bad 80's slasher that goes "poing"!

So what's the deal with that "poing" thing? In this film there's a character running around which, aside from being a friend of the guy who says he didn't do it, is completely redundant. Well, he does get beaten up by a lynch mob near the end of the film, but that's pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the plot too. Whenever this dude enters a scene to say whatever idiotic thing he has to say, this movie goes "poing". It's not like anybody in said scenes is playing with some device or instrument that goes "poing", no, that sound just magically happens. And nobody seems to notice it. Absolutely baffling. But after several puzzling "poing" moments, it suddenly hit me: The composer & sound editor must have been stoned one night and decided to play a prank on director Anthony J. Christopher. You know, just mess up his film by making it go "poing" every time when... well, you get the picture. I have no idea how they got away with it, but they did. This film goes "poing" numerous times.

And as if we still needed a cherry on top of all this, the amazing "Fatal Pulse" also features the obligatory very, very wrong let's-fall-(back)-in-love montage where a couple is seen riding bicycles through a suburban area on the tunes of a wonderful song with toe-curling lyrics that start off with "Love me again like you loved me before". Afterwards they have sex.

I think I'll just do the noble thing here and spare the whole cast by not commenting on their performances.