Fear Dot Com
Terror is lurking online in this thriller directed by William Malone, who also helmed the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorff) is a NYPD detective who has been assigned to look into a string of murders which have taken place in Manhattan, with Terry Houston (Natascha McElhone), a researcher from the city Department of Health, lending her assistance whether Reilly likes it or not. Reilly discovers that all four victims have one thing in common -- they were all men who logged on to the same Internet website exactly 48 hours before they were killed. It seems the website features a sexy woman offering kinky fun to those who enter her domain, but clicking the wrong icon takes users on a journey into fear. Reilly decides the only way to find out the truth is to head into the website and find out what follows for the next two days -- if he can make it out alive. Fear dot com also stars Stephen Rea, Jeffrey Combs, and Udo Kier. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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Product Details
| UPC: | 085392312320 |
|---|---|
| Release Date: | January 14, 2003 |
| Format: | DVD |
| MPAA Rating: | R |
| Region: | 1 (USA & territories, Canada) |
| Screen: | Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV |
| Sound: | Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel |
| Subtitles: | English, French, Spanish; Castilian |
| Disc Aspect Ratio: | 2.35:1 |
| Genre: | Horror |
Review
Fear Dot Com is the kind of movie in which the characters all share the same brand of web browser, and it uses this unlikely gothic-horror typeface whether they're logging into the deadly website of the title or, in theory, their grandmother's homepage. Fear Dot Com is the kind of movie in which a health department worker (Natascha McElhone) swims down into the depths of a swamp poisoned by chemicals, underneath a decrepit factory, because she suspects there might be "something" there -- and lo and behold, she discovers a body. Fear Dot Com is the kind of movie that laughably botches a potentially chilling concept, but at least it's not an original one -- the movie may have beaten the The Ring to theaters by several months, but it certainly rips off Hideo Nakata's original Japanese version, Ringu, with a killer website substituting for a killer videotape. William Malone's film is a turkey alright, but not because it fails to generate flashes of disturbing imagery that might haunt a person under the right circumstances. What's seen here is, in ways, more fulfilling than the watered down Luis Buñuel footage from The Ring. Rather, Fear Dot Com is undone by a cavalcade of logistical failures and moronic plot contrivances like the ones enumerated above, which totally validate the need for a good continuity editor. Presiding over the whole enterprise is a conductor of operatic psychosis played by Stephen Rea, who prates on with platitudes about "liking to watch" and "the power of the Internet" in an accent that sounds like a madhouse John F. Kennedy. Fear Dot Com might actually kill you within 48 hours -- death by incredulousness, indifference, or sheer disgust. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie GuideCredits
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Sigal Diamant | Actor — Nurse |
| Stephen Dorff | Actor — Mike Reilly |
| Udo Kier | Actor — Polidori |
| Stephen Rea | Actor — Alistair Pratt |
| Michael Sarrazin | Actor — Frank Bryant |
| Nigel Terry | Actor — Turnbull |
| Evie Garratt | Actor — Albino Woman |
| Anna Thalbach | Actor — Kate |
| Natascha McElhone | Actor — Terry Houston |
| Elizabeth McKechnie | Actor — Alice Turnbull |
| Gordon Peters | Actor — Rooney |
| Amelia Curtis | Actor — Denise |
| Kwasi Songui | Actor — Young Detective |
| Sven Pippig | Actor — Henry |
| Matthias Schweighofer | Actor — Dieter Schrader |
| Gesine Cukrowski | Actor — Jeannine |
| Jana Güttgemanns | Actor — Little Girl |
| Chris Bearne | Actor — Warehouse Attendant |
| Nils Brunkhorst | Actor — Prisoner |
| Siobhan Flynn | Actor — Thana Brinkman |
| Dean Gregory | Actor — Maintenance Man #1 |
| Anjelika Khromova | Actor — Ashley's Mother |
| Lex Kreps | Actor — Tenant |
| Derek Kueter | Actor — Officer #1 |
| Mascha Litterscheid | Actor — Nurse #2 |
| Joan McBride | Actor — Mrs. Richardson |
| Frances Potasnik | Actor — Nurse #1 |
| Astrid Skuyat | Actor — Alistair's Victim |
| Arnita Swanson | Actor — Barlow |
| Anja Van Greuningen | Actor — Ashley |
| Isabelle Van Waes | Actor — Victim |
| Birthe Wolter | Actor — Nina Blank |
| Jeffrey Combs | Actor — Styles |
| Emma Campbell | Actor — Goth-Chick |
| William Malone | Director |
| Josephine Coyle | Screenwriter |
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