Untraceable DVD Review

"Untraceable" reviews

DVD

Untraceable

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-06-20 16:50:18

Provider

MRIB

DVD Review

It was only a matter of time before an internet serial killer became the subject of a film and that's what you get in Untraceable.

While that's a modern premise, the film certainly borrows from the past too, with elements plucked from past serial killer flicks. The out of depth female agent (Diane Lane) and an extremely clever killer (the dumb ones tend to get caught quickly and don't make for gripping movies) brings to mind Silence Of The Lambs while the idea at its heart is like a variation on Saw etc.

However, you can't knock a film for not being totally original these days and Untraceable, to a large degree, delivers what it promises.

The killer sets up an untraceable website called killme.com and shows his audiences a random victim hooked up to an inventive torture device. The set up being the more people that log onto the site the faster the victim dies. And as the bodies pile up the site gains in popularity, meaning that each person dies faster than before.

There is of course a lesson about the internet amidst the gore and the film courted controversy through its adverts on Facebook (you can imagine the angle). Primal Fear director, Gregory Hoblit thankfully doesn't hammer that home, instead providing an entertaining, if ultimately standard, thriller.

Hoblit provides commentary along with producer Hawk Koch and production designer Paul Eads amongst the special features which also includes: Tracing Untraceable, Untraceable: The Personnel Files, The Blue Print of Murder and The Anatomy of Murder.

Copyright © MRIB 2008.