Viewed on 13 Apr 03    Complaints first: feardotcom borrows one of Hollywood's most ludicrous suspense-inducers - when the police return to investigate the darkened apartment, they sneak in and tip-toe around with flashlights, when all they have to do is switch on the lights and walk in normally.   It doesn't get much dumber than this, what do they think they are going to do, scare away the fingerprints?   They are the police, for godsake, they are supposed to be investigating.   Also, Alistair Pratt (Steven Rea) is no Hannibal Hector (who is?), but to convince an audience, the phychopath character has to look like the insulation has long ago been burnt off his wiring.   He can't look like someone's kindly old uncle.
        Director Malone keeps us in suspense for virtually the entire film by using a seldom used technique.   We are not quite sure how many sources of evil we are dealing with - this is an interesting approach, and it works.   Detective Mike Reilly (Stephen Dorf) and Public Health epidemiologist Terry Huston (Natascha McElhone) are on a trail littered with murders and unexplained deaths which at times seem to be related, but there is no obvious reason to believe they are.   The pieces of the puzzles come together one at a time, each one adding a little clarity, but not really helping them to determine whether or not they are dealing with multiple murderers.  
        The film feardotcom was indeed a thriller.   It provided the unexpected.   By 'unexpected' we are talking about what the moviegoer is confronted with, and not the characters (listen up, Hollywood).   It's only logical that if all horror movies are from the same cookie-cutter, the audience will already anticipate what comes next - and how it will end.   On the other hand, if the viewer is hit with the unexpected, it can be unsettling, frightening, gruesome, or whatever.   The film feardotcom achieves this, in part, with new faces and new locations - filming in Luxembourg, Germany, Canada, and London.   But you gotta hand it to them, they got the job done.
       Enduring Line or Phrase:  "I would like to tell you 'I feel your pain', but I don't."

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