VCR Alerts

In this improbable episode, a homicidal webmaster announces he will murder a woman live online (at http://www.inplainsite.com -- which is a website run by one of the homicide detectives) at a certain time, and then taunts the police.

The first scene occurs at the beginning of the program. The woman is dressed in a silk nightgown, or something similar, and bound arms apart with satin strips. She behaves as though she's in no danger, until the killer handgags her just before stabbing her.

At around ten minutes in, there is a blink-and-miss shot off a PC screen leading into commercial. It looks to be from the final scene.

About the halfhour mark, a second victim is seen bound to a pole and overgagged. The scene occurs entirely on a computer screen.

When the killer announces a third murder, the cops manage to trace his signal and rescue the intended victim in the nick. She is attired similarly to the first two women, bound arms apart, and tightly overgagged with a strip of satin. There's one good closeup. She's first shown around fifty minutes in.

On the DVD's commentary track, author Doug Wright, who wrote both the screenplay and the stage play upon which it was based, makes some rather interesting comments about the whipping scene. He notes that Winslet was wearing a plastic prosthetic back which was capable of raising welts and bleeding, but this effect was cut from the final release because it was considered too graphic. While assuring viewers that Winslet's back was protected during the whipping, he also points out, "Nonetheless, when it was over, she was wincing a bit from the pain."