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Mini Review
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| Director |
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William Malone
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| Cast |
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Stephen Dorff
Natascha McElhone
Stephen Rea
Jeffrey Combs
Udo Kier
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| Distributor |
| Columbia Tristar |
| Running Time |
| 97 |
| Certification |
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18 / R
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Reviewed By
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Vaughan Dyche
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Buy this film
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FEAR DOT COM (2002)
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When New York Detective Mike Reilly begins an investigation into the unusual death of a man on the underground system he find a book clutched tightly in the dead mans fingers. The book is titled "The Secret Soul of the Internet" and appears nothing more than a strange collection of text and imagery, but when a further case of a young German couple's mysterious demise after visiting a web site lands on Reilly's desk, he teams up with health examiner Terry Houston to delve deeper into the crimes.
Fear Dot Com is, on the face of it, a pretty straight and narrow kind of
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horror movie about a web site that offers it's subscribers sick titillation through it's 'live' performances of female torture and humiliation. It is however far from being a simplistic slasher or serial killer type film and offers a plot that some might consider a little too surreal for words,
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whilst others might think it completely 'borrows' it's premise from the Japanese horror film 'Ringu'. It certainly has an obvious connection between the mysterious deaths and the way in which they are instigated except one is with video tape in five days and the other is with a web site in 48 hours. Either way, one thing this film has that 'Ringu' definitely didn't have is a fabulous gothic darkness that practically drips off every frame giving the film a style that enhances the eire tension and making it a little uneasy to watch during certain scenes. The cinematic style mixes early 1900 century architecture with futuristic technology, (similar to that of 'Blade Runner' or a much darker and serious version of 'Brazil') to such great effect that the quality of the production is raised far beyond this reviewers expectations.
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It's a pretty fresh idea (forget about 'Rungu' for a moment) and respect must be paid for not turning this into another flick containing teenagers
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who's clothes fall off every time they switch their computer's on, but about the only positive aspect of the film is it's dark and menacing atmosphere, and this alone is not enough to hold the attention beyond merely a casual glance.The story has the same kind of nightmarish feel to
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it that 'The Cell' had in such an abundance but because of the obscure time line and incoherent plot, the film degenerates into a messy and disjointed affair who's only saving grace comes in the form of a few cheap thrills and a little S&M bondage.
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Score
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4 / 10
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