DVD Review: WATCHUSDIE.COM

WATCHUSDIE.COM is from Pathfinder Pictures and was written by Keith W. Strandberg and directed by Ryan Woo. It is the story of an internet voyeur site gone bad. Here is the full summary from imdb.com:

Set in a voyeur site called WatchUsDorm, the movie watches the lives (and deaths) of the eight women living in the house. These girls are live, 24 hours a day, seven days a week--until they begin to die. The first "live" Internet death occurs around midnight, when Pia takes a gainer down the main stairs of the WatchUsDorm mansion. Was it an accident, or a deliberate murder? No one knows, but more people than ever are watching, and the next day, T-shirts are being sold memorializing Pia's life and death. Soon, another girl dies. This time, its Sara in the hot tub. A banner remembering Pia and Sara appears on the site. The members are devastated, but the show must go on. Life continues as normal, or as normal as it can be when 45 cameras are watching your every move. Another resident turns up missing, and then another dies in the shower, her head smashed to pieces against the tiles of the shower stall. A killer is on the loose at WatchUsDorm.com, and suddenly the name of the site switches to WatchUsDie.com. Who do you call? What do you do? You don't know where the house is, or even if what you are watching is real, or a new millennium version of "War of the Worlds."

This is a great Thriller and I have to give the filmmakers credit, as who I thought was going to end up being the killer was not at all who it turned out to be. The film has many instances of pure helplessness, as people are watching the girls get killed but can't do anything about it, due to the animosity of the house and it's location. At one point, after witnessing one of the murders, a woman calls the police but they can't do anything about it because the caller has no information about who the girl is, or the address of the house. She doesn't even know the city or state the house is in. It is also disturbing when you watch the voyeurs who are logged onto the website getting enjoyment out of the killings and trying to guess who the killer is, thinking that the whole thing is a game or publicity stunt. The film also has a clever twist at the end that, while implausible as it seems, makes for a fun ending.
One of the scariest things about this film is that this, or something similar, is something that could actually happen. There are plenty of real voyeur sites on the internet, with cameras running all the time, and it is just a matter of time before something bad happens in front of one of the these cameras.

CLICK HERE to visit the official website of Pathfinder Pictures

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for WATCHUSDIE.COM

CLICK HERE to purchase WATCHUSDIE.COM from Amazon.com