Nifty if a little nasty TV thriller about a young woman, Sonia (Katja Woywood) searching for the truth about her older sister's disappearance. Sis has been satisfying herself sexually via the Internet, it seems, but her on-line activities have attracted the attention of a real-time killer. Sonia enlists the aid of a young programmer Josef (Benjamin Sadler) and they investigate the members of a secret online chat group, who it seems Sis had joined. Bank manager Tilmann (Peter Sattmann, a stalwart of German TV), he with the Sergeant -Major of a wife (Katja Riemann), appears to be a prime suspect, but a visit to his country cottage proves that all is not what it seems.
Shot in and around Berlin, this is a reasonably clever and fast-moving thriller, but the end is just a collection of horror-movie tricks. On the basis of this one, German TV thrillers are much like the US model, but there's nice use of gloomy locations such as the holiday cottage out of season, contrasted with the frenetic energy of Berlin itself. I think the web designers need some help though - the `Inside Berlin' page is pretty unattractive. The original title Verführt - Eine gefährliche Affäre does not of itself refer to the Internet but the English title (`A Fatal Online Affair') suggests that the Internet is more central to the plot than it actually is. The same plot could easily be wrought using newspaper personal ads - the Internet bit is just an update on the perils of blind dates.
`Enemy of the State' with Will Smith, on the other hand was a nice demonstration of what can be done to us through communications technology.
