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"A web of
inescapable terror!
Surfed any amazing
websites lately? Found a site with awesome content you
can't resist? Several people in the Big Apple have
logged on to an absolute killer of a site, but they did
not live to tell the take - the nerve-jangling tale of
dread that is feardotcom.
Once you log on there's
no turning back in this steadily amped-up shocker
directed by William Malone (1999's House on Haunted
Hill). A mad genius (Stephen Rea) has created a live-cam
site that determines a person's deepest fear and then
brings that fear to brutal life 48 hours later...unless
someone finds a way to cut off the site at its source.
An investigating detective (Blade's Stephen Dorff) and a
city health inspector (Ronin's Natascha McElhone) know
the danger of logging on to the site, but they're
determined to solve the mystery. They think they can
endure the terror that awaits. But that's where they
might go dead wrong." - Back Cover
Soundtrack - 2.5 Sticks of Butter
I have noticed most movies do not have the
stellar musical score that Full Moon movies are known for. This was an average
soundtrack, but nothing that I would write home about.
Plot - 2.5 Sticks of Butter
Feardotcom could have been an entertaining movie,
if they had kept up with a serial killer theme, rather than focused on the
"ghostly" elements that it did. Like many post 80's horror movies it
seemed to want try to encompass too many different elements. I also found that
the summary on the back cover was misleading to the actual story. However despite
all of this it was a fairly entertaining movie.
Action - 2.75 Sticks of Butter
There was not that much action in this movie,
especially considering the film is entitled Feardotcom - by putting the word
fear into a title one would expect to see something frightening. This movie was
not. The most action in this movie happened towards the end, and even that was
put together in a fairly haphazard way.
Effects - 2 Sticks of Butter
Like most of this movie the effects promised to
be pretty good. There were some really unique bits and pieces of film effects,
unfortunately these few effects were rehashed throughout the entire show and
nothing new was really added.
I have decided to put the feardotcom website
featured in the show under this section as well, in my mind it looked like a
poorly created flash animation. Considering this film was released in 2002 I
would have expected something better from them. I was also quite irate that
whomever went onto this site seemed to be using a funky browser...I mean c'mon
whatever happened to good ol' Internet Explorer or Netscape, these are the norm
are they not?
Characters - 3 Sticks of Butter
I actually liked most of the cast in this film, I
was quite impressed. I thought that the lead female character - the health
inspector, was pretty good. She did not have the cheesy lines that abounded in
Octopus for that movies leading lady. The detective also played his part well.
The only qualm I had with the characters was the Health Inspector was allowed
into this police matter with zero resistance. When she was first called to
investigate the case there was a potential health problem, after this was shown
not to be I wonder why she was allowed to play detective.
Overall Impressions - 2.5 Sticks of Butter
I decided to pass this movie with some
reservations, there were no outstanding elements to it, however the movie was tolerable
and there were some good ideas there. I just wish that the creators would have
decided on one genre and not tried to force the horror end of what could have
made a fairly good thriller.
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