Though the film Untraceable debuted in the states last month, it arrives in the UK this week and a new online marketing campaign was launched not long ago to help promote the overseas release. Great. Super. Not quite. Apparently, the interactive company Picture Production Company set up a Facebook page called "Kill With Me," and we're being told (via the Guardian) that said page "has been gradually revealing more and more of a visceral torture scene from the Untraceable movie to Facebook members." That's not all -- here's a copy of the text that was also featured on the page: "This guy is going to die. You want to see his stinking flesh burn and bleed and blacken? Until he's some twisted dead thing? This is what you want. And I've filmed it especially for you. The more fans I get, the more I'll show ..."

A similar marketing tactic for the same movie was used on the video community Seesmic, where "an actor planted on the service briefly disappeared, and was then filmed by a video camera being bound, gagged and seemingly executed." The dude in charge of PPC knew both pages would be pulled, but wanted to "push the boundaries of what is acceptable in an online community with the Untraceable marketing campaign." I don't know about you, but tricking people into believing they're watching someone being murdered is taking it a bit too far. I understand the need to consistently up the ante with regards to marketing campaigns (especially for horror/thriller flicks), but where do you draw the line.

If you came across a campaign like this, would it make you want to see the film? Or is this taking it too far? Additionally, where do you draw the line these days? Sound off below ...

An average to slightly above-average thriller with a noticeable lack of twists, predictable or otherwise, Untraceable is acceptable viewing for anyone who is a fan of Diane Lane or dense enough about the Internet to buy the film's premise, that a hacker of limited means and intelligence could create and maintain a high-profile Website; the origin of which is untraceable by the FBI. It's a conceit that sounds fishy even to the computer know-nothings in the theater and at one point the film acknowledges this, throwing in the caveat that while the technology to trace the killer does exist, it's only available to the National Security Agency, and they aren't willing to share their technology with the FBI. Uh-huh. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that that's the case. Once FBI agents themselves start getting murdered and their bodies grotesquely displayed on the site in question, wouldn't some responsible FBI chief threaten the NSA with a press conference to let America know that this culprit could be caught if the NSA spooks would only share their toys?

After they're stalked and selected, the killer's victims meet the sharp end of a taser and end up trapped in a Saw-like contraption in a dank basement, staring into a video camera that's sending feed to a website called KillWithMe.com -- yes, Sony has grabbed that particular domain and you should go there now to see some funny marketing. The killing mechanisms, be it a drip of acid into a water tank or the turning on of heat lamps one after the other, are incrementally activated by the number of hits the Website receives. The more people tune in, the faster the victim dies. Much like in Seven, the killer chooses high-profile, prominent victims to draw attention to his crimes and that only adds to the outlandishness of him being uncatchable. Still, there's enough lack of knowledge about the technology in question to make it sound something less than absurd, and the movie works on a the level of a cheap, quick ride that you can ride just long enough before it gets tiresome and irritating.

Here's a different kind of success story. Screenwriter Allison Burnett, whose new movie Untraceable opens today, studied playwriting at Julliard, became a screenwriter to pay the bills and used his newfound financial stability to become a novelist. His first novel, Christopher: A Tale of Seduction (2003), was a finalist for the prestigious PEN award. His first movie, however, was supposed to be a realistic depiction of life in prison, until Roger Corman bought it and turned it into Part 3 in Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's Bloodfist series.

Nevertheless, movies are apparently in Burnett's blood and he persisted. His screenplay for Autumn in New York became Joan Chen's much-despised 2000 weepie with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. And his two most recent works, Resurrecting the Champ and Feast of Love (both 2007), opened to tepid reviews and cool box office receptions. (Although both were decent films and both probably suffered mainly from marketing problems.) But Burnett directed his own low-budget film, Red Meat (1997), that remains a high point for him. When Cinematical spoke to him via phone the morning after the Untraceable premiere, he was very excited and hopeful.

CINEMATICAL: You're credited on Untraceable with two other writers, Robert Fyvolent and Mark Brinker. How did this partnership come about?

ALLISON BURNETT: They had written a script that was around for a long time, called Streaming Evil. It had many big names attached, but it never took off. And then Lakeshore came to me. At first I was supposed to work on Marsh's character [Jennifer Marsh, played by Diane Lane], do some character work and some dialogue work. Then I pitched them some ideas, and they began writing and I pitched them some more stuff. In their version, the killer really had no reason to kill people on the internet, and there was a randomness to it. It was a hideous carnival atmosphere. What I brought to it was, the more who watched, the faster the person dies. There was an MO to the killer: why he does it. We were going to go into arbitration over screen credits, but in the end we decided to be friends. I felt very good about that.

As expected, in addition to kicking the Statue of Liberty's butt, Cloverfield beat back the competition to be the clear winner this past weekend, breaking a couple of records in the process. The giant monster flick now has the highest January opening weekend on record (a record previously held by the 1997 release of the Special Edition of Star Wars) as well as being the top earner for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend (previously held by Black Hawk Down). 27 Dresses opened to less stellar, but still respectable numbers, while last week's other release, Mad Money, finished sixth. Here's the rundown:

1. Cloverfield: $41 million.
2. 27 Dresses: $22.4 million.
3. The Bucket List: $15.2 million.
4. Juno: $10.3 million.
5. First Sunday: $7.8million.

We've got four new releases this week, and between the laughs, greased pecs, automatic weapons, and dancing, there should be something for everyone.

How She Move
What's It All About: After her sister's death from a drug overdose, a girl must leave the private high school she's been attending and return to the drug and crime-infested neighborhood she came from. An opportunity to take part in a dance competition traditionally dominated by males gives her the hope of winning enough money to continue her education.
Why It Might Do Well: It should have strong youth appeal and has an 80% Fresh rating over at Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: English teachers everywhere will be shrieking in agony over the grammatical atrocity committed by the title, and I've got to tell you its got me cringing too.
Number of Theaters: 1,500
Prediction: $12 million

Meet the Spartans
What's It All About: In the style of the Scary Movie franchise, Not Another Teen Movie and Date Movie comes this lampooning of 300.
Why It Might Do Well: Anything's possible.
Why It Might Not Do Well: This type of parody has been done to death.
Number of Theaters: 2,600
Prediction: $10 million

It's all about beefing up a film's cast today, as the new Diane Lane flick, Untraceable, has added a few more names to its pot. Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Joseph Cross and Mary Beth Hurt have joined Lakeshore Entertainment's thriller, which follows an FBI agent (Lane) while she attempts to track down "a ruthless online predator." So, basically, it's like an extended Law & Order/FBI Files episode, only with a bunch more familiar faces.

Hanks is set to play Lane's FBI partner (can you believe Tom Hanks' kid is now playing an FBI agent in a film?), while Burke shall play Lane's lover, Hurt, her mother, and Cross will take on the role of villain. Gregory Hoblit (Frequency, Fallen) who, coincidentally, directed episodes of L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues back in the day, has come on board to helm the pic, which begins production next month in Portland, Oregon. Bonus points go to scribes Robert Fyvolent and Mark R. Brinker for penning an original script (as in Untraceable will not be based off some novel, short story, play, etc ...), though Cross isn't a very scary bad guy -- then again, online predators are known to blend in with the crowd. Hmm, I wonder if this one will end with a crew from Dateline NBC showing up to spoil the party?

Yes folks, the Boogeyman is back ... and this time it's personal. Jeff Betancourt, who you'll find warming up the editor's chair for the upcoming Grudge 2, has signed on to make his directorial debut on another horror sequel, Boogeyman 2. With a script by Brian Sieve, pic will revolve around a woman whose fear of the boogeyman causes her to check into a mental hospital. (Why she opted to just skip the whole night light routine is beyond me.) However, once there things don't go so well, and something tells me it's not the shoddy food service. Production will begin in late November.

The internet is turning into one scary place, and Hollywood thinks it's the perfect breeding ground for serial killers. Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear) is in negotiations to direct the techno-thriller (no, it's not a thriller set against a ton of thumping techno music), Untraceable. Pic is based on the spec script Streaming Evil written by Robert Fyvolent and Mark R. Binker, which has since been chopped into pieces and re-written by Allison Burnett under the new title. Story focuses on an FBI investigator hunting a serial killer who posts pictures of his gruesome crimes on a website. (Hmm, am I warped for wondering what said website's google rating is?)