Death By Numbers

The power of the internet is a frightening thing. With 'thought' crimes now creeping into the judicial system, what was once a tool for sharing knowledge and emails has exposed the twisted and voyeuristic tendencies of more people than it's comfortable to think about.

This is where the idea for Untraceable comes in. It's an interesting concept which is failed by a lack of pace and depth and a lazy ending.

The story follows FBI detective (Diane Lane) as she tries to uncover the identity of a nasty killer who is capturing the gruesome deaths of his victims and screening them on a website. The killer's 'tool' is the internet, with the more people that log on to watch the victim, the faster the victim dies. As the FBI try to track down the killer they must try and stop people from visiting the website while at the same time using the media to warn people. The film highlights the worrying growth of snuff movies and the danger of voyeuristic tendencies.

It is a solid cinematic concept but it's the way it is executed, like a made for TV movie, that is where Untraceable falls down. The real question of whether censorship can be a good thing could have been played on more and more focus on the part that everyday people play in murdering innocent victims could have made this a chilling thriller.

The killer's reasons for killing and the background are actually quite compelling, the execution of the victims is gruesome and this film could have been rather clever in the same way as the original Saw movie was. But the big difference is Saw had a kick ass ending whereas Untraceable leads to a lacklustre conclusion. And then there's the TV element - there's something very 'CSI' (but with more blood) about it and though Diane Lane is good, she's not the most exciting actress in the world.

With so many 'could haves' and 'should haves,' Untraceable will satisfy horror fans but those expecting to see a tense thriller (as it's being marketed) will be disappointed.