This film is a thriller about a serial murderer who kills his victims via some gruesomely clever contraptions that are connected to his Web site.
The more viewers who hit the sight the faster his victims are killed. Diane Lane puts in a decent performance as the case's head investigator from the FBI's Internet crimes division.
The rest of the cast (Billy Burke and Colin Hanks) is unimpressive at best. Joseph Cross' performance as the killer is unconvincing.
Director Gregory Holbit's credits, including "Fracture" and "Primal Fear," along with an interesting concept, initially gave me some hope. (I do pay for my ticket and write these reviews voluntarily, so I'm not going to watch something that looks bad in the previews.)
Unfortunately, this seems to be Holbit's first misstep. The tempo is flat, the editing is choppy, the production value is grainy and the writing is contrived.
It makes you think about the ethics of the Internet in about as over-the-top and heavy-handed a way as possible. The most imaginative elements are the devious methods used to kill the victims and the special effects that bring the gore to life.
Unless you're a big fan of the serial killer genre, I wouldn't waste your time on this one. I give it a generous C-.
Higgins occasionally provides movie reviews to the TH.
