FeardotCom (2002)

MDP Worldwide presents feardotcom, a horror thriller that explores the secret soul of the internet prowling the city of New York.

Lensed in Luxembourg, the film is directed by William Malone, best known for helming the 1999 hit House on Haunted Hill. "The story is set in contemporary New York, but our vision for this concept required the setting and architecture of a 1930’s-era industrial New York," explains Malone. "Filming in Luxemburg with its opportune overcast skies and access to abandoned, decaying factories and warehouses allowed us the freedom to enact this vision."

Production designer Jérôme Latour, editor Alan Strachan, director of photography Christian Sebaldt and special effects supervisor Harry Weissenhaan joined Malone to create "the juxtaposition of today’s information technology in the setting of our past industrial age. The story, combined with the gritty urban look and feel of feardotcom engages this critical confrontation of old and new."

feardotcom partners two young actors, the versatile Stephen Dorff (Blade, Cecil B. Demented, The Power of One) and the striking Natascha McElhone (Surviving Picasso, The Truman Show, Ronin) with veteran specialists of the thriller genre, Stephen Rea (Interview with the Vampire, The Crying Game), Jeffrey Combs (House on Haunted Hill, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) and Udo Kier (Shadow of the Vampire, Dancer in the Dark) as they investigate the depraved effects of the site Feardotcom.com and explore the polluted minds and twisted realities of killers and victims alike.

Steven Dorff leads the cast as cocksure detective Mike Reilly, a man tormented by an unresolved case who is thrust into the baffling investigation of the mysterious murders linked to Feardotcom.com. Dorff studied the script to get a sense of his character, "but let my persona develop in front of the camera, in the moment, constantly evolving with each new interaction."

Dorff’s onscreen partner Natascha McElhone, who portrays the determined Department of Health worker Terry Huston, was "extraordinarily challenged in this role because the pitch and tempo and tension are so important to the story. Every day I was pushed to the absolute limit."

"We had a great chemistry that really allowed our characters to take shape and come to life," says Dorff of working with McElhone.

Special effects supervisor Wiessenhaan remarks that the thriller "essentially relies on built suspense and the atmosphere inherent in film noir." Augmenting the texture of the story, Malone utilizes special effects to underscore the elements of story and character and enrich the visual canvas of the film. "In feardotcom we use special effects to layer subtle, small elements that are hardly noticeable, but which play upon the audience’s psyche and strengthen the suspense and uneasiness of the experience."

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