FeardotCom
Encyclopedia
FeardotCom is a 2002 horror film
, directed by William Malone and stars Stephen Dorff
, Natascha McElhone
and Stephen Rea
.
) is an NYPD detective who is called to the scene of a mysterious death in the subway system. The victim, Polidori (Udo Kier
), exhibits bleeding from his eyes and other orifices and, by the frozen look on his face, appears to have been scared to death.
Department of Health researcher Terry Huston (Natascha McElhone
) is intrigued by the find as well, particularly when several more victims show up with identical symptoms.
When a contagious virus is ruled out, the two team up to discover what might be killing these people. After some digging for clues, they end up sending the victims' computer hard drives to forensic specialist Denise Stone (Amelia Curtis
).
Denise ends up discovering that they had visited a website called Feardotcom which depicts voyeuristic
torture murder
. Upon looking at the site herself, Denise is subjected to various sights and sounds of torture that eventually drive her crazy and result in her falling to her death from her apartment window.
Mike feels guilty, thinking that he should have never gotten Denise involved in the case. Terry figures out that people who visit the website end up dying within 48 hours, apparently from what they feared most in their lives. Despite such dangerous knowledge, both she and Mike end up visiting the site in order to figure out what is happening.
As they begin to experience paranoia and hallucinations (like the deceased), including that of a young girl and her inflatable ball, they race against time to figure out if any of it has any connection to an extremely vicious serial killer, Alistair "The Doctor" Pratt (Stephen Rea
), who's been eluding Mike for years.
It is revealed that Feardotcom is, in fact, a ghost site made by one of Pratt's first victims, who is seeking revenge because people watched her being tortured and murdered. She was tortured by Pratt for 48 hours before she begged him to kill her, which explains why the victims have 48 hours to live. Mike and Terry track down Pratt and release the spirit of the murdered girl from the website, which kills Pratt. However, Mike is also killed.
The ending scene shows Terry lying in her bed with her cat, staring at the ceiling.
Awards and "Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver" at 2003 Fantafestival.
It was nominated for "Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Gold" at the 2004 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival and "Best Film" at the 2002 Catalonian International Film Festival.
, even though Feardotcom came out two months before the American version of The Ring
. The premise is also very similar to that of Japanese film
Kairo
, released in 2001, and David Cronenberg
's Videodrome
. It has a Rotten Tomatoes
rating of 3%. Pulitzer Prize
-winning critic Roger Ebert defended the film's design and visuals; awarding it only two stars out of four, he nonetheless commented, "Strange, how good 'feardotcom' is, and how bad. The screenplay is a mess, and yet the visuals are so creative this is one of the rare bad films you might actually want to see."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, directed by William Malone and stars Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
, Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
and Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...
.
Plot
Mike Reilly (Stephen DorffStephen Dorff
Stephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
) is an NYPD detective who is called to the scene of a mysterious death in the subway system. The victim, Polidori (Udo Kier
Udo Kier
Udo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
), exhibits bleeding from his eyes and other orifices and, by the frozen look on his face, appears to have been scared to death.
Department of Health researcher Terry Huston (Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
) is intrigued by the find as well, particularly when several more victims show up with identical symptoms.
When a contagious virus is ruled out, the two team up to discover what might be killing these people. After some digging for clues, they end up sending the victims' computer hard drives to forensic specialist Denise Stone (Amelia Curtis
Amelia Curtis
Amelia A Curtis is a British actress born in Stockholm, Sweden. She is notable for having played the role of Viki Lovejoy in the final series of Lovejoy, a role that she took over from Amelia Shankley....
).
Denise ends up discovering that they had visited a website called Feardotcom which depicts voyeuristic
Voyeurism
In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature....
torture murder
Torture murder
Torture murder is a loosely defined term to describe a murder where death has been preceded by the torture of the victim. In many legal jurisdictions a murder involving "exceptional brutality or cruelty" will involve a harsher sentence.-Punishment:...
. Upon looking at the site herself, Denise is subjected to various sights and sounds of torture that eventually drive her crazy and result in her falling to her death from her apartment window.
Mike feels guilty, thinking that he should have never gotten Denise involved in the case. Terry figures out that people who visit the website end up dying within 48 hours, apparently from what they feared most in their lives. Despite such dangerous knowledge, both she and Mike end up visiting the site in order to figure out what is happening.
As they begin to experience paranoia and hallucinations (like the deceased), including that of a young girl and her inflatable ball, they race against time to figure out if any of it has any connection to an extremely vicious serial killer, Alistair "The Doctor" Pratt (Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...
), who's been eluding Mike for years.
It is revealed that Feardotcom is, in fact, a ghost site made by one of Pratt's first victims, who is seeking revenge because people watched her being tortured and murdered. She was tortured by Pratt for 48 hours before she begged him to kill her, which explains why the victims have 48 hours to live. Mike and Terry track down Pratt and release the spirit of the murdered girl from the website, which kills Pratt. However, Mike is also killed.
The ending scene shows Terry lying in her bed with her cat, staring at the ceiling.
Cast
- Stephen DorffStephen DorffStephen Dorff is an American actor, best known for portraying Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade and Cecil B. DeMented.-Early life:...
– Detective Mike Reilly - Natascha McElhoneNatascha McElhoneNatascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
– Terry Huston - Stephen ReaStephen ReaStephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...
– Alistair Pratt - Udo KierUdo KierUdo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
– Polidori - Amelia CurtisAmelia CurtisAmelia A Curtis is a British actress born in Stockholm, Sweden. She is notable for having played the role of Viki Lovejoy in the final series of Lovejoy, a role that she took over from Amelia Shankley....
– Denise Stone - Jeffrey CombsJeffrey CombsJeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
– Sykes - Nigel TerryNigel TerryNigel Terry is an English stage and film actor probably best known by film audiences for his portrayal of King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur . However, he has had a long career in classical theatre....
– Turnbull
Awards and nominations
It won the "Worst Film" at the 2003 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationDallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association is an organization of 35 print, radio/TV and internet journalists from Dallas-Fort Worth-based publications...
Awards and "Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver" at 2003 Fantafestival.
It was nominated for "Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Gold" at the 2004 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival and "Best Film" at the 2002 Catalonian International Film Festival.
Criticism
The film was criticized for its lack of originality, specifically, the plot seems to be too derivative of RingRing (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
, even though Feardotcom came out two months before the American version of The Ring
The Ring (2002 film)
The Ring is a 2002 American psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson. It is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring....
. The premise is also very similar to that of Japanese film
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
Kairo
Kairo (film)
is a 2001 Japanese horror film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The film was based on his novel of the same name, and was released in the United States in 2005 as Pulse. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
, released in 2001, and David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
's Videodrome
Videodrome
Videodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and singer Deborah Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small cable station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal featuring...
. It has a Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
rating of 3%. Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning critic Roger Ebert defended the film's design and visuals; awarding it only two stars out of four, he nonetheless commented, "Strange, how good 'feardotcom' is, and how bad. The screenplay is a mess, and yet the visuals are so creative this is one of the rare bad films you might actually want to see."