Only in New York. Corpses with blood streaming from their eyes perplex a local cop (Stephen Dorff, who phoned this one in) and department-of-health doctor (Natascha McElhone, who tries real hard). They suspect it's a tropical virus; actually it's the Internet --the ghost of a murder victim has somehow figured how to lure visitors to a particular Web site and then kill them with their worst fears.

Heavy on atmospheric visuals and light on narrative logic, this grotesque, cyber-savvy confection never quite jells, but it does have a lot of white-knuckle moments (many of them gratuitous and sadistic, however: bloated corpses, mangled faces, nude women stuck with knives and needles). Director William Malone steals from the best of film and TV: Seven, Videodrome, La cité des enfants perdus, Strange Days, Millennium. But as polished as the images are, they can't transcend the wooden dialogue and inscrutable plot line. Meanwhile some fine European actors are caught slumming in this piece of glittery trash, including Stephen Rea (with a flat upstate accent), Udo Kier, and Nigel Terry. Now that's scary. (90 minutes) At the Apple Valley, Campus, Entertainment, Flagship, Holiday, Providence Place Mall 16, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.