Four bodies are found in New York City. The coincidence? They all died
hours after logging onto a site named feardotcom.com. Now being someone
who takes an extreme interest in websites and horror this should surely
be something that I can sit back and take a real interest in. Not quite – in
fact I am left with the feeling of bitter disappointment.
I personally enjoyed director William Malone’s previous work on the
remake of House on Haunted Hill. There were signs of originality and hints
of new directions there. Unfortunately Fear Dot Com sadly manages to have
neither. The nonsensical plot which seems to have heavily ripped off Ringu
is bordering on the absurd. The film which seems to rely on sick, twisted
and shocking imagery fails to scare or excite.
The twisted imagery in itself seemed very gratuitous and seemed purely put
in for mere shock value. It almost seemed wasted in many ways. The
brilliance of The Ring was to show very little. This shoved as
many different disturbing images down the viewers throat in such a short
space of time that it no longer became scary or shocking but simply
laughable. It just felt as though % of the movie was literally filled
with these flash images, and other bizarre visions.
The films only saving grace appears to be the inclusion on the soundtrack of
the thundering Rammstein track, Sonne. But even this brief appearance
fails to spark any real interest and in no way makes up for the bitter
disappointment and sheer boredom felt by myself throughout the remainder of
the film.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Under par performances all round (sorry Jeffrey), an absolutely ridiculous
concept and utterly incomprehensible motives make this an all round
mistake. Avoid at all costs.