FearDotCom is a lot like The Ring, but perhaps somewhat more high-tech, involving the Internet as opposed to a video tape.
People are attracted to a website on the Internet featuring live torture and killing. When they visit it, they die within 48 hours of viewing the content on the site. The content is maintained by a psychopath (Stephen Rea) who holds a girl prisoner and threatens to a killer, with a live feed. An intrepid detective (Stephen Dorff) is on the trail of the killer.
There is a supernatural component to the film, but it is a rationalised in a pseudoscientific manner. The logic (?) here is that the killer is so evil that he emanates a force that consumes those that encounter it.
The final conflict between the good guy (the detective) and the bad guy (the killer) is irrelevant, and may or may not be satisfactory depending on the side you're on. The cinematography is effective and sets up a nice mood, but the movie itself is pretty slow. Like The Ring, the film draws the audience into the story it is depicting until they becomes a part of it (which is why it works better if the object to be watched is a film as opposed to an Internet site).
FearDotCom is worth a rental, but The Ring is a more powerful film.