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Pulsion homicide

Original title: Impulse
  • 1984
  • R
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
5.8/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Pulsion homicide (1984)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer1:34
1 Video
23 Photos
HorrorMysterySci-FiThriller

After a small earthquake in a tiny, quiet town, local citizens start to exhibit bizarre, violent and self-destructive behaviour.After a small earthquake in a tiny, quiet town, local citizens start to exhibit bizarre, violent and self-destructive behaviour.After a small earthquake in a tiny, quiet town, local citizens start to exhibit bizarre, violent and self-destructive behaviour.

  • Director
    • Graham Baker
  • Writers
    • Nicholas Kazan
    • Don Carlos Dunaway
  • Stars
    • Tim Matheson
    • Meg Tilly
    • Hume Cronyn
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.8/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Graham Baker
    • Writers
      • Nicholas Kazan
      • Don Carlos Dunaway
    • Stars
      • Tim Matheson
      • Meg Tilly
      • Hume Cronyn
    • 31User reviews
    • 17Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:34
    Trailer

    Photos23

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    Top cast33

    Edit
    Tim Matheson
    Tim Matheson
    • Stuart
    Meg Tilly
    Meg Tilly
    • Jennifer
    Hume Cronyn
    Hume Cronyn
    • Dr. Carr
    John Karlen
    John Karlen
    • Bob Russell
    Bill Paxton
    Bill Paxton
    • Eddie
    Amy Stryker
    • Margo
    Claude Earl Jones
    Claude Earl Jones
    • Sheriff
    Robert Wightman
    Robert Wightman
    • Howard
    Lorinne Vozoff
    • Mrs. Russell
    Peter Jason
    Peter Jason
    • Man in Truck
    Adam Baumgarten
    • Boy with Danny
    Abigail Booraem
    • Mrs. Ashley
    Leonard Burns
    • Pissing Man
    Mary Celio
    • Mary Woodson
    Jack T. Collis
    • Mr. Arson
    Christian Crane
    • Shawn
    Dan Danforth
    • Guard
    Chuck Dorsett
    • Reverend
    • Director
      • Graham Baker
    • Writers
      • Nicholas Kazan
      • Don Carlos Dunaway
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews31

    5.81.8K
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    Featured reviews

    5gridoon

    Disappointing.

    "Impulse" is a movie for which I had relatively high expectations: the idea of people losing the ability to control their impulses and totally disregarding all the established social rules sounds very, very intriguing. However, the result we get here is (despite a few unexpected twists) a disappointing and very slow-paced (there is a dialogue-free passage where a man simply walks around for about seven minutes) thriller. George Romero had used basically the same story ten years earlier in "The Crazies" - and he did it much better. (**)
    8sausalito-93893

    Much better than I expected

    I wasn't expecting much from this when it came on TV and was half-watching while doing computer stuff but it pretty soon drew me in. The characters and their interactions were much more realistic than I expected and the acting was really good. Last night I watched World War Z a big budget 'zombie' film from 2013 starring Brad Pitt and it was really poor - Impulse is a far more mature and involving treatment of a broadly similar theme.
    6loganx-2

    Half-Remembered But...

    Part of me doesn't know how to rate this, because I saw it years and years ago, but it's one of those films which left a vivid impression on me. "Impulse" is the story of a town who due to an unknown chemical in the milk supply(the townspeople never know) begin to lose all impulse control.

    What follows are increasingly disturbing scenes, which flow into each other, blankly, as a sheriff opens fire on young delinquents, a mother watches nonchalantly as her children light one of her friends on fire, doctors turn off life support, and sexual laws and norms completely breakdown. It's a bleak film, where impulses like curiosity, the desire to save others, are spare, and sex and violence all but absolute by the films apocalyptic end, involving a government cleansing with a crop duster. One of those odd sci-fi films you watch late at night and confuse for a dream till see the box in the video one day. Be interesting to take a second look.
    heedarmy

    Inventive and disturbing

    The idea of a town going slowly mad is not an original one, but it's cleverly handled in this disturbing little film, which eschews gruesome horror in favour of an accumulation of telling detail. Well worth viewing.
    8PeterMitchell-506-564364

    A movie of shocks, thrills, and, disturbances, unnerving, that questions it's catalyst

    Now for something completely different. I didn't know what to make of this film when I first saw it, back in 86'. I was surprised too that Tim Matheson was in this, after remembering his grand comic role in Up The Creek. Even though I loved this movie, because you didn't know what crazy thing was gonna happen next, where it's story sucked in, you so desperately wanted to know why these people were acting so crazy, when being told it's reasons at the end, I found it just too hard to buy. I'll never forget the snapping back finger scene in the bar, by that guy who didn't like having to wait, to have a chance to dance with Tilly. What you learn at the end, was that aerial spraying that still happens today, contaminated this milk at this plant, where there was an earthquake prior. Matheson drinks the milk that has this toxic substance. His Girlfriend, Tilly doesn't, but her brother, a younger Bill Paxton and the father do. Aha. It was just too much to buy that something like happening, could send people into such hysteric and violent states, as if acting on impulse, may'be the most dangerous emotion, where rational thought takes a backseat. The destructive and violent acts shown in the movie, some quite frightening, are impactful. This movie's a good watch, mainly 'cause it's different, if unique. Even the sex scene between Tilly and Matheson, where things hotted up, got frightening, when I first watched it. But remember, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I love the realization Matheson made when he found the spark of his violent acts, like a swell of relief one would say, amidst all the madness we saw prior. The end too worked well, this time the credits, unaccompanied by music, but a howl of wind, Tilly, standing forlorn, and resolute. The fight must on, as life.

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    Related interests

    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery
    James Earl Jones and David Prowse in L'Empire contre-attaque (1980)
    Sci-Fi
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Co-stars, lead actress Meg Tilly and veteran actor Hume Cronyn, had both recently just worked on their most previously released picture with actress Glenn Close, on 'The Big Chill' (1983) and 'The World According to Garp' (1982) respectively. All three are Oscar (Academy Award) nominees who have never won [to date, June 2021].
    • Goofs
      The power went out in the town. You see the milk pasteurizers stop spinning at the farm and all the lights are off. If the power was out, why was the porch light on when Jenny/Stewart are out front by the bench? And again, later, the lights around the farm stalls are lit, but the rest of the town still has no power.
    • Quotes

      Jennifer: I don't know what I could have done wrong, but whatever it was, I'm sorry.

    • Connections
      Referenced in 28 jours plus tard (2002)
    • Soundtracks
      Before the Next Teardrop Falls
      Written by Vivian Keith and Ben Peters

      Performed by Loretta Lynn

      Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

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    FAQ16

    • How long is Impulse?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 28, 1984 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Impulse - Pulsion homicide
    • Filming locations
      • Lincoln, California, USA
    • Production company
      • ABC Motion Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $10,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,773,433
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $995,570
      • Sep 30, 1984
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,773,433
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 31m(91 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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