First look at Tarryn Wyngaard and Thapelo Mokoena in the Showmax Original survival horror Pulse
Showmax has just dropped the intense first trailer for the Showmax Original horror series, Pulse, picked by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the 25 buzziest series at this yearβs MIPTV, a leading global TV market in Cannes, France.
Shot in South Africa and Mauritius, Pulse is about an international group of game creators who discover that survival is no longer just a game when an electromagnetic pulse bomb fries every electrical circuit in their office high-rise – and peopleβs heads.
βPulse is unique in so many ways,β says SAFTA winner Tarryn Wyngaard (Stam, DAM, Dwaalster). She plays Jaz, creator of a hit indie game thatβs getting a mainstream reboot, for better or worse. βStephen Clarkeβs scripts were so incredibly out of this world and like nothing Iβve ever read before.β
SAFTA winner Thapelo Mokoena (Trackers, Bulletproof, Wild at Heart) is playing against type as her ex, the rebootβs narcissistic producer. βThere isnβt anything like this show,” he says. “No offence to every other amazing series Iβve made, but Pulse is really one of the most, if not the most, amazing project Iβve ever made in my 20-year career.β
Pulse also stars the likes of Sven Ruygrok (Spudβs Rambo) and two-time Silwerskerm winner Carel Nel (Gaia, Rage, Raised by Wolves), with cameos from multi-award-winners Albert Pretorius (NΓͺrens, Noord-Kaap, Johnny Is Nie Dood Nie) and LarΓ© Birk (Dominee Tienie, Vir Altyd), as well as stage and screen legend Frank Opperman (Dominee Tienie, NΓͺrens, Noord-Kaap).
The six-episode survival horror series is directed by multi-award-winner Sallas de Jager (Dominee Tienie, Free State), also known as frontman of SAMA-nominated Afrikaans folk-rock band Klopjag. Speaking about his move into horror, Sallas says, βOn the surface it looks like a big shift, but for my period films we created worlds that donβt exist anymore, so this didnβt feel that different,β says Sallas. βMy films have always been about the emotional survival of my characters, and with Pulse Iβve focused on making everyone feel like real people, not just mechanisms to get to the next gory thing.β
Produced by Emmy winner Steve Lanning (Secret Garden), Pulse is set in a familiar office high-rise, which becomes steadily freakier thanks to SAFTA-winning production designer Waldemar Coetsee (Toorbos, Meerkat Maantuig) and the visionary VFX team of Laurent-Paul Robert (Harry Potter, The Dark Knight Rises) and Hilton Treves (Tomb Raider, Blood Psalms). βIt starts out as a very relatable office block, with everyone working late,β says Sallas. βWe want the audience to feel like, βThis can happen to me.ββ
In many instances, the fear you see on screen is real. βWeβd be filming something, crawling through vents, and they wouldnβt tell me but theyβd put the camera on me and theyβd do a bang or explosion and Iβd get an actual fright,β says Tarryn. βIt would take a while to calm down afterwards. There were a lot of pranks on set; it got quite funny behind the scenes with how people tried to spook each other. That was a definite highlight.β
Pulse is the latest in a string of internationally acclaimed horrors emerging from South Africa, like the multi-award-winning Fried Barry and Gaia, and the critically acclaimed Glasshouse. βGiven the circumstances we all find ourselves in with Covid, I think there is general fear and anxiety,β says Sven. βHorror films give you the opportunity to really let go and release a little bit of that anxiety in company, where itβs deemed okay. When you watch horror you almost have an excuse to let that go; there is a form of catharsis there.β
The Showmax Original is the result of an international collaboration between global production and finance company Media Musketeers, UK-based ForLan Films and SAβs Red Mirror, co-produced with CANAL+ and The MediaPro Studio.
Pulse is the third co-production between Showmax and CANAL+, building on the success of the first two seasons of Crime and Justice, which earned Sarah Hassan the Best Lead Actress in a Drama prize at the 2021 Kalasha Awards in Kenya, and the upcoming epic Blood Psalms.