This really is a gross, snuff-style horror and a direct rip-off of The Ring.

A brash young police detective (Stephen Dorff) hooks up with a pretty government health researcher (Natasha McElhone) to find some answers to why people are dying, dribbling blood from eyes, after logging on to feardotcom.

The tale's designed to tap into our fears about what lives in the nether regions of the internet and it's a sick little story about vicious murders, carried out live on the web.

A deranged doctor Alistair Pratt (Stephen Rea) runs the vile snuff site, abducting women and torturing them for the delight of internet subscribers.

But it's all a lurid mess when strange ghosts are chucked into the mix and the story becomes incongurous and incoherent.

Even the idiot plotting is forgotten as you wonder about the sick mind came up with such squalid rubbish.

The dialogue is also dismal and dishonest: 'People love watching death ¿why do you think the ratings are so high on those reality disaster shows?'

Are you serious? I haven't noticed Big Brother maiming and murdering contestants yet. Even American car chase shows don't air people being snuffed out in police chases.

Trying to justifty this tatty tale with nonsense like that just shows what a debased idea this was in the first place.

Aidan Conway