Three credited writers have failed to make UNTRACEABLE anything more than an efficient, workmanlike thriller heavily indebted to the major serial killer movies of the past two decades. There’s the feisty yet emotionally vulnerable FBI female protagonist a la Clarice Starling, along with the umpteenth use of the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS-inspired FBI-bust-wrong-house misdirection scene. The visual palette of torrential rain and the misanthropic, sadistically inventive killer echo SE7EN. Although the flick is not nearly grisly or explicit enough to satisfy gore hounds, it displays a clear SAW influence in the creation of its death traps, crafted by the killer to ensure protracted suffering for his victims. The whole, intriguing premise of UNTRACEABLE was used by Dario Argento a few years ago for his admittedly middling THE CARD PLAYER.

   Cyber crime FBI agent Diane Lane gets tipped off about www.killwithme.com, an ultra-sophisticated, impossible-to-trace snuff site with constant live feeds of victims in peril. The youthful psycho responsible for both the site and the murders it depicts relies on the public’s insatiable hunger for violence : when the site’s number of hits reaches a certain point, the victim dies. As she gets closer to the truth, Lane’s life, and that of her young daughter, comes under threat.

   Despite the hi-tech trappings, UNTRACEABLE is a routine TV movie-like police procedural thriller at heart, albeit one dressed up with discreetly nasty deaths to add some novelty : one guy is bled to death, another fatally exposed to numerous flesh-frying heat lamps, another still takes an elaborate acid bath. Working against the film’s success even on a basic thriller level is its pretence to condemn the kind of voyeuristic violence that we the audience have come to see. The killer’s back story involves extensive trauma caused by the fact that his father’s Brooklyn Bridge suicide ended up broadcast worldwide through 21^st century media. The film is preachy in its lament of the modern dominance of “public domain” real life horrors, forgetting that it’s always been human nature to be curious about the suffering of others - hence the continuation of the SAW franchise, which at least doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a revel in sadism.

   The movie is decent as a straight-forward, no-surprises genre piece thanks to the directorial assurance of Gregory Hoblit (who made the underrated FALLEN a decade ago) and Lane’s wastefully good performance in an under-written role. There’s some suspense and it’s pacey enough, but the script never rises above the level of an average episode of MILLENNIUM. Not helping is the abundance of thriller clichés, including the old back-seat-of-the-car “shock”, a wholly routine climactic struggle and the very guessable fate of Lane’s perky comic-relief partner (nicely played by the likeable Colin Hanks). Anyone wanting a really good - and very nasty - cyber-killer movie with identical themes should check out Brett Leonard’s marvelously sour FEED.

   The DVD includes a few special features such as audio commentary with director Gregory Hobit, producer Hawk Kosh and production designer Paul Eads. There are also four behind the scenes featurettes that give you insight behind the making of the film as well as neat little feature about the blueprints and anatomy of murder.