Untraceable

{{Infobox film

| name = Untraceable

| image = Untraceableposter08.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| alt =

| director = Gregory Hoblit

| screenplay = {{plain list|

}}

| story = {{plain list|

Robert Fyvolent
Mark Brinker

}}

| producer = {{Plain list|

Steven Pearl
Andy Cohen
Tom Rosenberg
Gary Lucchesi
Hawk Koch

}}

| starring = {{Plain list |

}}

| music = Christopher Young

| cinematography = Anastas Michos

| editing = David Rosenbloom

| studio = {{Plainlist|

Screen Gems
Lakeshore Entertainment
Cohen/Pearl Productions

}}

| distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing

| released = {{Film date|2008|01|25}}{{United States |date=January 2025}}

| runtime = 101 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $35 million{{cite web | url = http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=untraceable.htm | title = Untraceable (2008) | work = Box Office Mojo | date = March 2, 2008 | access-date = 2008-03-13 | archive-date = 2018-06-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180626191411/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=untraceable.htm | url-status = live }}

| gross = $53 million{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Untraceable|title=Untraceable (2008) - Financial Information|website=The Numbers|access-date=2019-11-12|archive-date=2021-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428154911/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Untraceable|url-status=live}}

}}

Untraceable is a 2008 American psychological thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit and starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was distributed by Screen Gems. The film was released in the United States on January 25, 2008.

Set in Portland, Oregon, the film involves a serial killer who rigs contraptions that kill his victims based on the number of hits received by a website, KillWithMe.com, that features a live streaming video of the victim. Millions of people log on, hastening the victims' deaths.

Plot

FBI Special Agent Jennifer Marsh is a widowed single parent living in a suburban Portland home with her daughter, Annie Haskins, and her mother, Stella Marsh. At night, she works in the FBI's cybercrime division with Griffin Dowd, fighting identity theft 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 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), 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, 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 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 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

{{Cast listing|

Diane Lane as Jennifer Marsh
Billy Burke as Detective Eric Box
Colin Hanks as Griffin Dowd
Joseph Cross as Owen Reilly
Mary Beth Hurt as Stella Marsh
Peter Lewis as Richard Brooks
Tyrone Giordano as Tim Wilks
Perla Haney-Jardine as Annie Haskins
Tim De Zarn as Herbert Miller
Christopher Cousins as David Williams
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Arthur James Elmer

}}

Production

The film was shot in and around Portland, Oregon.{{Citation |date=February 9, 2007 |title=Casting officials are seeking extras for film |publisher= Statesman Journal |page= C3|url= https://www.google.com/search?q=%22open+casting+call+will+be+held+Saturday+for+paid+extras+for+a+feature+film+being+made+in+the+Portland+area%22|access-date=November 16, 2013}} A temporary studio was constructed in Clackamas, Oregon,{{Citation |date=November 17, 2008 |title=State uses incentives to lure film industry |publisher=Statesman Journal |page=A1 |url=http://www.allvoices.com/news/1806010/s/23452809--twilight-film-puts-spotlight-on-oregon |access-date=November 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131116143531/http://www.allvoices.com/news/1806010/s/23452809--twilight-film-puts-spotlight-on-oregon |archive-date=November 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} 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 was shot both on the actual bridge as well as at the studio.{{Citation|author= Tom Hallman Jr.|date= March 23, 2007|title= Our rain needs a stand-in? That's showbiz|publisher= The Oregonian|page= A1|url= http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=88332&page=30|access-date= November 16, 2013|archive-date= June 10, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150610202134/http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=88332&page=30|url-status= live}} 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

On May 13, 2008, Untraceable was released on DVD, Blu-ray and UMD. The DVD included an audio commentary and four featurettes.{{cite AV media |title=Untraceable |type=DVD (region 1) |publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |date=2008 |oclc=192075566}}

Reception

= Box office =

The film had an opening weekend of $11.3 million in the U.S. It went on to gross $53 million worldwide.

= Critical response =

Untraceable received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes 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".{{rotten-tomatoes|id=10008954-untraceable|title=Untraceable}}

Several critics viewed the film as hypocritical for indulging in the "torture porn" it condemns.{{cite web |url=http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/01/24/sidetracks/movies/film/doc47995eb6580ff231899380.txt |title='Untraceable': Film revels in torture porn it condemns |access-date=2008-01-25 |date=2008-01-24 |publisher=Northwest Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819221947/http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/01/24/sidetracks/movies/film/doc47995eb6580ff231899380.txt |archive-date=2008-08-19 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url= http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/OPINION03/801250406 |title= Grisly 'Untraceable' embodies what it pretends to expose|access-date=2008-01-25 |last= Long |first= Tom |date=2008-01-25 |publisher=The Detroit News}}{{cite web |url= http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-25-0018.html |title= Torture porn genre gets 'Untraceable' treatment |access-date=2008-01-25 |last= Neman |first= Daniel |date= 2008-01-25 |publisher=inRich.com}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cite web |url= https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/01/24/untraceable-streaming-horror-2/ |title= 'Untraceable': Streaming horror |access-date= 2008-01-25 |last= Newman |first= Bruce |date= 2008-01-24 |work= San Jose Mercury News |archive-date=December 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229143932/https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/01/24/untraceable-streaming-horror-2/|url-status= live }} It also met criticism for its climax which was seen as devolving into horror film clichés.{{cite web |url= http://www.hollywoodsnitch.com/?q=node/845 |title= Untraceable |access-date= 2008-01-25 |last= Mastrantonio |first= Rilio |date= 2008-01-25 |publisher= Hollywood Snitch |archive-date= 2011-07-12 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110712213820/http://www.hollywoodsnitch.com/?q=node/845 |url-status= live }} Lane was praised for her performance in the film.{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402997.html |title= 'Untraceable': Snared In Its Own Sordid Trap |access-date= 2008-01-25 |last= Hornaday |first= Ann |date= 2008-01-25 |newspaper= The Washington Post |archive-date= 2012-11-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121104060527/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402997.html |url-status= live }}{{cite web |url= http://newsok.com/article/3196639/1201225078 |title= Diane Lane helps add life when script grows cold |access-date= January 25, 2008 |date= January 25, 2008 |publisher= NewsOK |archive-date= February 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222001039/http://newsok.com/article/3196639/1201225078|url-status=dead }} Roger Ebert gave the film a favorable review, giving the film a 3 star rating.{{cite news|first=Roger|last=Ebert|authorlink=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/untraceable|work=Chicago Sun-Times|title=A Web killer's site has dead streaming video|date=January 24, 2008|via=RogerEbert.com|access-date=January 27, 2011|archive-date=May 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507104044/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/REVIEWS/801240301|url-status=live}}

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a strongly negative review, giving it zero stars and insisting readers to not watch the film.{{cite magazine|last=Travers|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Travers|title=Untraceable|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/untraceable-20080207|date=February 7, 2008|access-date=30 April 2012|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-date=29 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129140954/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/untraceable-20080207|url-status=live}}