Warner Bros. presents a film directed by William Malone. Written by Josephine Coyle. Based on a story by Moshe Diamant. Running time: 98 minutes. Rated R (for violence including grisly images of torture, nudity and language).
On a holiday weekend that traditionally attracts fewer moviegoers than any other, only one new film is making an appearance nationally -- the horror film, fear dot com (aka feardotcom aka FearDotCom). Horror films rarely please critics, and this one is no exception. Manohla Dargis opens her review in the Los Angeles Times by remarking: One of the great guilty pleasures of moviegoing is watching a film you expect to be bad turn out to be spectacularly bad. Stephen Holden in the New York Times notes that the horrors evident in this movie are the torture, maiming and dismemberment of pretty women. He adds: If you're looking for evidence that sadistic misogyny isn't dead in Hollywood, fear dot com is just your ticket. Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post calls it a depraved, incoherent, instantly disposable piece of hackery. The question on the minds of some critics is whether theaters will be relaxing the R rating for this movie. Collin Levey observes in the Wall Street Journal: Obviously somebody in studio accounting failed to notice that the bulk of the target audience would never be allowed past the ticket window.