September 2nd, 2004
If you think back to ten years ago there really wasn't a thing called the "internet" - or at least it was still in its infancy. See, long before that there were things called BBS'es (or Bulletin Board Services) where you could dial them with you clunky modem and read messages and what have you, but it truly wasn't until around 1996-97 that the internet began playing a big part in my life - and the lives of a lot of people. So with the technology changes (which actually helped make this page possible) comes the films based around this, if you will, "pop techno" invention. There haven't been as many internet based horror films made as you'd think for something that exists in millions upon millions of homes, but for this grab bag we're going to look at three that use the "net" as a basis... for terror! (or not)
Five people sign-up for a "web show" where they have to spend six months together in a remote house. The rule is that if anybody leaves, the money if forfeited by them all. Which seems to be a fine idea and apart from the intruding cameras everywhere doesn't seem to effect them much. That is until all sorts of weird events start to happen - and they start to get killed. This one is an interesting one. Really there haven't been many movies to exploit the whole web camera concept (of the three movies here, two did) and despite the fact the ending is quite predictable and the pace may feel a bit too slow at times; when the movie does kick in a little it works decently with director Marc Evans using angles and a kind of "peeping tom" feel to keep it watchable.
Like our previous effort this too has people spending time in an undesirable location (in this case the Myers house) with murderous results - only instead of not knowing who's doing it we're pretty sure it's the muscular guy in the spooky white William Shatner mask. Purists of the original John Carpenter movies hate the sequels, that's just how it goes - I myself like almost the entire series and while this one isn't top notch (and that's mostly to blame on the fact Busta Rhymes is the hero and spouts the line "Trick or treat, motherf----r!") it is entertaining and director Rick Rosenthal also gets to go all fancy with the camera angles as he portrays pieces of the movie through webcams. Also I like the fact that they show some teenagers at a party seemingly unaffected by what they're seeing and saying it's fake going to show just how desensitized the internet has helped make people, because when you have access to almost anything it loses its impact.
Stephen Dorff is a New York detective who decides to investigate why people are basically bleeding to death two days after visiting the titular website. From there the script gets all muddled as they decide to throw in a serial killer (who runs the site since all psychopaths are webmasters), the ghost of a female victim, and all other sorts of unpleasantness. Plus this film looks so very ugly. I know the intention was probably to make it look all washed-up and grungy, but there's such a pallor over it all that it hurts your eyes. Then again that may just be because the movie becomes painful through time thanks to the lack of logic, awful dialogue, and drug trip-like visuals. |
My Little Eye [2001] is one of those "concept" horror films. You know the type, it takes a basic idea (in this case a "web broadcast") and twists it into a serviceable story using various plot and filming devices to tell the tale.
Halloween: Resurrection [2002] brings the aging franchise into the technological ages and also exploits the webcam idea to it's fullest.
Lastly is, Feardotcom [2002], a movie that has a nugget of an okay idea but only manages to run it so far into the ground you'd need mountain climbing gear to get out of the chasm.