Bums Corner
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Posted 26 Nov 2006
Reviewer:
*Note – the following review contains doses of sarcasm. In real life I dig Australia, and to this day thank your country for the comedic genius that is Yahoo Serious.
If the threat of corrupting your computer with viruses and exposing your personal information to thieves hasn't stopped you from opening unknown attachments in emails, maybe having a spooky chick appearing in your house and killing you, then sewing your eyes shut will do the trick. Then again, maybe that won't even work.
A quick check on Symantec's website lists the “Watch Me” virus as a very high threat, since it allows a vicious spirit to invade your workspace through port 8080 and do all sorts of bad stuff to your body. There's a trick to stopping her, but most of the time it's ineffective.
“Watch Me” takes place in a country called “Australia” – which is a lot like the US, except people have cooler accents, their cars have steering wheels where passengers are supposed to sit, and their electrical outlets look funny. Much like the US however, people get their snuff films via the internet. Bad news though – downloading and watching a file called “Watch Me” can cause death…which isn't good for the waning snuff film consumer base. No one watching consenting adults in a blue movie deserves to die (actually, the second victim does…simply because any grown man with a cat named “Giggles” shouldn't continue to breathe).
Our heroine, Tess, loses her friend Jill and boyfriend Jared to the bandwidth hogging fiend (which I refer to humorously, or humorlessly, as a bandwitch), and becomes a reluctant partner to skinflick collector Taku to track down and destroy this modem ghost. The hunted become the hunters, and while their mission to defeat the doppelganger almost seems too easy until the very end, it's still some quality viewing.
“Watch Me” has a major Asian influence in the look of the movie, but harkens back more to the classic movies that warn against deviant behavior. Only thieves are hunted by mummies, and only teens doing the bone dance get a pitchfork in the back. Our killer isn't slaying everyone in sight, just purveyors of this particular snuff film. Talk about a niche market!
For an indie project, “Watch Me” has some decent production value. The sound was good, the video quality was above par, and the effects were downright creepy.
While it's probably not on your local Blockbuster's shelves, it's worth tracking down a copy. Just don't download it illegally, unless you want to invoke a pretty pissed-off spirit. While I am all for gratuitous violence and nudity, it's refreshing to be reminded that you don't need them to tell a good story. “Watch Me” is a solid 3 ½ canner, and a fun journey into the techno-spirit world.
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