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FeardotCom (2002) - William Malone

A generic and dark tale of supernatural murder involving the internet. Specifically a website called Fear.com or Feardotcom. When a user browses this torture snuff website they are given 48 hours to live. The movie is really dark and seems to have a grainy or grungy filter put over the lens. Some parts are hard to follow and I didn't really enjoy their choice of lead actress. Natascha McElhone is pretty boring. It just feels like they didn't try.

In short, this movie is typical of a early 2000's horror film. From the Bush era, when things were all about pounding energy drinks and bad-mouthing arab nations. Nu-Metal pounded the airwaves and Nu-Horror reigned supreme at the box-office. Mostly because people didn't have much of anything else to watch. Horror in Hollywood was stuck in a funk of copying any J-Horror venture they could find. Movies like The Eye, Black Water, Darkness Falls, The Ring, The Grudge, and The Messengers are all examples of terrible horror flicks released during this time. Most of those were only rated PG-13! PG-13! What a waste of time! 

This movie is no exception. Sure it's rated R, but it might have just as well been rated PG-13. It was too lame to be scary and too dark to see anything. The storyline is drab and the acting is flat. This is literally garbage. If this movie had never existed, then the world would have kept right on spinning. Uninspired, regurgitated horror movies like this are a dime a dozen. Most times they are fun to pick up for a night of ironic jokes and laughter with friends. This movie wouldn't do that for you. 

It does, however, have some cool acting cameos like Udo Kier and Jeffery Combs. It even stars a horror child actor Stephen Dorff. They just turn in unmemorable performances. Our main villain (?) played by Stephen Rea fails to drive any fear home as his character is exposed too much. You just want the whole thing to end. It's not a pretty site. 

  • feardotcom.com is/was the address of the movie's official Web site.
  • In pre-production the website featured in the film was called Fear.com, despite the producers not owning that website in real-life. They had hoped to buy the domain name from its owners at the time, but were told that it was not for sale at any price, leading to the website's name in the film being changed to Feardotcom.com.
  • The name "Dr. Gogol" is written on the subway wall in the first scene. This is a reference to Mad Love (1935), another film about a mad surgeon.

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