Reel Horror

Fear Dot Com (Ws Sub Dol) asin: B00007G1ZB

When I first saw a trailer for "FearDotCom", I admit I was intrigued. Unfortunately, that intrigue sooned turned to boredom while sitting in the theater watching it. Having seen "House on Haunted Hill" I had a pretty good idea what to expect from director William Malone, visual montages and stop motion camera work. Personally, that type of camera work doesn't bother me, however Malone throws "disturbing" images at the viewer at such a high speed it's impossible to even process what you are seeing. At first, it works. You turn to the person next to you and ask "What the hell was that?" But after the 10th time, you just stop caring. "FearDotCom" tried hard to have an eerie feel to it. But it takes more than dimming the lights and casting a few shadows. The creepiest part of the movie was the little girl dressed all in white.

My biggest problem with the movie...the script. It is just plain bad. A plot full of holes and dumb characters to fill them. Stephen Dorff plays Mike Reilly, a detective who is assigned to the murders. Jeffrey Combs (the only redeeming part of this movie) plays his cynical, burned out partner. Natascha McElhone is an agent from the Department of Health. And Stephen Rea as "The Doctor", a psychotic with an iffinity for tirturing and killing women over a web cam, who coinicidentally Stephen Dorff has been tracking for years. All these characters are one dimensional except Dorff's, I don't think he is even that. Dorff's character does nothing to solve the crimes. I don't think he contributed on ounce to the story. Natascha McElhone gathers evidence, searches the victims and begins her own investigation and ultimately solves the case. The so called romantic side story is absolutely ludicris. One scene Dorff and McElhone are investigating a crime scene literally the very next scene Dorff gets out of her bed. This is after meeting the day before. My girlfriend turned to me and just said "What?" I really can't illustrate how dumb the characters are, there were just so many idiotic things they did. Example: No matter how dark a room was no one, and I mean NO ONE, ever turned on a light or carried a flashlight to see. They would just fumble around in the dark. I don't blame the actors, there was nothing they could do with the material at hand.

The story itself was average. A haunted website that kills it's viewers based on their biggest fears until someone solves the mystery of the site's host. The mystery is really no mystery at all. It will take all of twenty minutes to figure it out. The film drags along with no build up to the "Big climatic ending" (note the sarcasm) leaving the viewer generally unfulfilled.

Normally, I would give a film like this no stars but Jeffrey Combs entertained me the 15 minutes he was allowed on the screen. I wouldn't waste my time or money going to see this movie in the theaters. I wouldn't even rent it. My advice wait till you are sick in bed and it's the only thing on cable.