''Untraceable'' is a 2008 American

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring

Diane Lane Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at age 14 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film '' A Little Romance''. The two films that could have catapulted her to st ...

, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and

Joseph Cross Joseph or Joe Cross may refer to: People * Joseph Cross (actor) (born 1986), American actor * Joseph Cross (cartographer) (1821–1865), English cartographer * Joseph Cross (cricketer) (1849–1918), English cricketer * Joseph Cross (judge) (1843 ...

. It was distributed by

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

. Set in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, the film involves a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who rigs contraptions that kill his victims based on the number of hits received by a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

, KillWithMe.com, that features a live

streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

of the victim. Millions of people log on, hastening the victims' deaths.

Plot

FBI Special Agent Jennifer Marsh is a

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can ...

ed single parent living in a suburban

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

home with her daughter, Annie Haskins, and her mother, Stella Marsh. At night, she works in the FBI's

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing t ...

division with Griffin Dowd, fighting

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was c ...

and similar crimes. One night, an anonymous tip leads them to a website called KillWithMe.com. The site features a streaming video of a

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

being tortured and killed. The website cannot be shut down, as the creator knew that someone would try and built into it a fail-safe; every time the server is closed, a mirror server immediately replaces it. After the cat's death, KillWithMe.com's webmaster graduates to human victims, kidnapping them and placing them in death traps that are progressively activated by the number of hits the website receives. The first victim is a helicopter pilot Herbert Miller (bled to death by injections of

anticoagulant Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where t ...

), followed by a newscaster David Williams (burnt to death by heat lamps while cemented into the floor). At a press conference, the public is urged to avoid the website, but as Jennifer feared, this only increases the site's popularity. Griffin is kidnapped after investigating a lead based on his hunch as to the killer's identity and receiving a phone call from the killer disguising his voice and posing as one of Griffin's jilted blind dates. In the killer's basement, he is submerged up to his neck in a vat of water with his mouth taped shut; the death trap introduces into the water a concentration of sulfuric acid. After the killer leaves the room, Griffin uses his dying moments to blink a message in

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...

, giving the FBI the lead he was following up on. Jennifer follows up on the morse code message to discover that the victims were not random: they were involved in broadcasting or presenting the suicide of a junior college teacher. The teacher's unstable techno prodigy son, Owen Reilly, broke down and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. When released, he decided to take revenge and prove a point: that the public's interest in the suffering of others is insatiable, as well as to wreak vengeance on those he felt had exploited his father's death. The police raid Owen's house but he is not present. Owen has been following Jennifer because he is now obsessed with her. He captures and places Jennifer in a makeshift death trap: hanging her above a

cultivator A cultivator is a piece of agricultural equipment used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with ''teeth'' (also called ''shanks'') that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. It also refers to m ...

and progressively lowering her to her death as more people enter the website. Jennifer escapes by swinging out of the way and grabbing a pillar to pull herself onto the ground. She breaks free and pins down the murderer, fatally shooting Owen as the police arrive. Owen's death was being broadcast, just like his father's. Jennifer then displays her FBI badge to the webcam. While the chatter in the website's

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

dwindles, statements are made such as "You go girl!", "glad the killer is dead" and another one saying "a genius died today". The final comment asks where the video can be downloaded.

Cast

as FBI Agent Jennifer Marsh * Colin Hanks as FBI Agent Griffin Dowd * Billy Burke as Detective Eric Box *

as Owen Reilly * Mary Beth Hurt as Stella Marsh *

Tyrone Giordano Tyrone Giordano (born 1976) is a deaf American film, television, and stage actor. He is known for his roles in the musical '' Big River'' and the movie ''The Family Stone''. Early life and education Giordano was born in Hartford, Connecticut t ...

as Tim Wilkes *

Perla Haney-Jardine Perla Haney-Jardine (born 2 May 1997) is a Brazilian-American actress, best known for her role as B.B. in the 2004 movie '' Kill Bill: Volume 2.'' Personal life Haney-Jardine was born in Niterói, Brazil. Her father, Chusy Haney-Jardine, is ...

as Annie Haskins * Christopher Cousins as David Williams * Tim De Zarn as Herbert Miller * Peter Lewis as Richard Brooks * Marilyn Deutsch as Marilyn Deutsch *

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...

as Arthur James Elmer * Dax Jordan as Scotty Hillman * John Breen as Richard Weymouth * Brynn Baron as Mrs. Miller * Phil Hamilton as Mr. Miller

Production

Filming

The film was shot in and around Portland, Oregon. A temporary studio was constructed in

Clackamas, Oregon Clackamas is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place (CDP) in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, and is a suburb of Portland. The population was approximately 7,000 . Clackamas is home to Camp Withycombe, which is a ...

, where all non-location photography was done, mostly interiors, including the FBI's cyber division, Jennifer Marsh's house, the FBI building elevator, several basements, etc. A scene set on the east end of the

Broadway Bridge Broadway Bridge may refer to: ;Canada * Broadway Bridge (Saskatoon), in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ;United Kingdom * Broadway Bridge (Liverpool), in Liverpool, Merseyside ;United States * Broadway Bridge (Clarkdale, Arizona), listed on the Nation ...

was shot both on the actual bridge as well as at the studio. A faux diner was built underneath the Broadway bridge, which was used in the movie. The birthday party for Perla Haney-Jardine's character Annie was filmed in the roller skating rink of Oaks Amusement Park.

Release

Home media

On May 13, 2008, ''Untraceable'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

and UMD. The DVD included an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

and four featurettes.

Reception

Box office

The film opened poorly, with an opening weekend of $11.3 million, below the $35 million budget. It grossed $53 million worldwide, on theatrical release.

Critical response

''Untraceable'' received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gives the film a score of 16% based on 149 reviews, with the site's consensus being, "Despite Diane Lane's earnest effort, ''Untraceable'' manages to be nothing more than a run-of-the-mill thriller with a hypocritical message". Several critics viewed the film as hypocritical for indulging in the " torture porn" it condemns. It also met criticism for its climax which was seen as devolving into

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

clichés. Lane was praised for her performance in the film.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film a favorable review, giving the film a 3 star rating. Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' gave the film a strongly negative review, giving it zero stars.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Gregory Hoblit 2008 films 2008 crime thriller films 2000s serial killer films American crime thriller films American police detective films American serial killer films Films about computing Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Films directed by Gregory Hoblit Films produced by Gary Lucchesi Films scored by Christopher Young Films set in Portland, Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Lakeshore Entertainment films Screen Gems films Films about snuff films Techno-horror films Techno-thriller films Torture in films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films