This is a kind of a mixed review. First, I'll get to the stuff that I liked about "Impulse". The movie doesn't try to do too much right away, instead attempting to slowly build a sense of terror. The protagonists are less stupid than what you usually get in a movie like this, figuring that something is wrong fairly early on. The actions of the sick townspeople are believable and creepy. And some of the photography is really good, giving the viewer some striking images.Now, the bad stuff. The movie is ultimately TOO slow for its own good. If things were speeded up a little bit, the movie would have had an acceptable pace. While some of the photography is good, much of the movie has a flat made-for-TV feel (not surprising, since this was made by the ABC television network.) The revelation of what's causing the mayhem is not done by detective work, but more feels like the screenwriters were getting near the end and felt they had to reveal it right there and then. The ending is also unsatisfying, leaving several big questions unanswered.

Viewing "Impulse" is a very satisfying experience. Unpredictable films are such a rarity, when one comes along like "Impulse", it is something to embrace. The script is logical, and extremely creative. Meg Tilly, Tim Matheson, Hume Cronyn, and Bill Paxton, give believable performances. This could have played out like a zombie movie, but "Impulse" is far superior to any boring "zombiefest", and originality shines through in almost every scene. You get the feeling that something like this could have actually happened, even though the script is pure fiction. From the "grabber" opening till the credits roll, you will be fascinated. Very entertaining and definitely recommended. - MERK

I got this DVD after seeing Meg Tilly in 'Masquerade' and wanting to see some of her other efforts. I must say Meg looked very graceful in her opening ballet scene. Meg's IMDb biography mentioned that she started out as a ballet dancer. Her dance training really shone through in this scene.The film starts out with a mild earthquake in a small rural town. Since the film opened with this incident, I knew that it would figure prominently in the plot. Soon afterward, the town residents start to loose control of their impulses.The film slowly declined as the plot unfolded. The premise seemed sound enough, but nothing ever really gelled in the film. Bill Paxton was plain weird as Meg's sexually deviant brother. His stash of provocative pictures of his sister really creeped me out, more than the violence in the film.I never really understood how the vault of toxic chemicals even happened to exist. The remote rural location seemed far from ideal for a chemical weapons production or storage location. If the stored substance was so dangerous, it would eventually escape due to deterioration of its abandoned storage vault, never mind an earthquake. Even the densest bureaucrat would realize the holocaust a leak would produce and have the site cleaned up before the facility was closed. The vault was ideally placed to contaminate the local water table. For all these reasons, the plot failed to maintain credibility.It was kind of eerie to watch all the old cars and travel back to a pre-internet world. It is sobering to realize how much the world has changed in the last 25 years. For this reason alone, I will return to this film someday.

I have been known to fall asleep during films, but this is usually due to a combination of things including, really tired, being warm and comfortable on the sette and having just eaten a lot. However on this occasion I fell asleep because the film was rubbish. The plot development was constant. Constantly slow and boring. Things seemed to happen, but with no explanation of what was causing them or why. I admit, I may have missed part of the film, but i watched the majority of it and everything just seemed to happen of its own accord without any real concern for anything else. I cant recommend this film at all.