Feardotcom (R) ★★

When bodies turn up among the urban grime of New York City, an inner-city police detective and a Department of Health researcher team up to uncover what's causing the violent deaths.

Story

New York City detective Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorff) teams up with Department of Health researcher Terry Huston (Natascha McElhone) to investigate five bizarre deaths. Before long, they discover that all the victims died exactly 48 hours after visiting the Web site feardotcom.com. The site itself looks amateurish, with rapid-fire images of a strange doorway, screaming faces, torture tools and indiscernible, grainy objects. Users log on to watch a twisted doctor perform autopsies on people--while they're still alive, torturing his victims until they beg to be killed. The voyeurs must then interact with a mysterious woman who asks things like, ''Do you want to hurt me?'' She challenges users to find her within two days--or die. Those who don't find her end up suffering whatever gruesome fate they fear most and--this is the best bit--it's brought on by some sort of evil force generated through the computer. Of course, curiosity gets the better of them and Mike and Terry log on to the site, only to find themselves embroiled in a supernatural, violent fight for their lives. If this explanation made sense, that's more than we can say for the plot of feardotcom.

Acting

Dorff is well cast as Mike Reilly, a brash, young city police detective whose curious nature gets him into trouble. But the character is too simplistic and underdeveloped to give Dorff much to do. Although we get a little more insight into McElhone's character Terry (we know she has a cat name Benny, for example) there isn't much to like, or dislike, about her. Dorff and McElhone's characters strike up a sort of friendship as the film progresses, but there isn't much chemistry between the actors. A couple of the creepier roles in the film are much more entertaining to watch, especially Stephen Rea and Michael Sarrazin. Rea plays Alistair Pratt, the twisted doctor whose torture victims provide feardotcom.com's ''entertainment,'' while Sarrazin plays Frank Sykes, a drunk and washed-up author. It's a shame these two didn't have more screen time.

Direction

Director William Malone explains in the production notes for the film that feardotcom offers both a scientific and spiritual explanation for what happens in the film, and that it is ultimately up to moviegoers to decide which school of thought they subscribe to. But the film's storyline is so convoluted and contradictory that it's difficult to figure out what question the film is asking, let alone find the answer. Even if nothing about the story--or the philosophical questions it purports to ask--makes sense, the intense look of the film is enough to keep you watching. Malone bathes the film in murky, blue tones, and sunlight never even trickles in. Offices are dimly lit and apartments are always dank and dilapidated. It rains day and night. The weird flashes of images presented in this setting are graphic and disturbing, making feardotcom a film for the strong of heart--and stomach.

Bottom Line

Watching feardotcom is like watching a B-movie plot play out in what looks like an art house film, but if you let go of the plot and allow yourself to be absorbed into the film's corny, albeit creepy, concept, it's not a bad ride.