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In New York City, four bodies turn up in grim industrial surroundings, and the deaths share unusual features that point investigators toward something contagious. Detective Mike Reilly, brash and impatient, is paired with Terry Huston, an ambitious researcher from the Department of Health. Once the possibility of a virus is set aside, the pair find the one thing the victims had in common: a website they visited shortly before dying. Reilly eventually logs on himself, and the case becomes a race against time.

William Malone directed the film, his third feature following Creature in 1985 and House on Haunted Hill in 1999, from a screenplay by Josephine Coyle. Stephen Dorff plays Mike and Natascha McElhone plays Terry, with Stephen Rea, Udo Kier, Amelia Curtis and Jeffrey Combs in supporting roles. The production was a multinational effort involving Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Luxembourg and the United States.

Released in August 2002, the film cost about 40 million dollars to make and took in roughly 19 million worldwide, a return well below its budget. Audience reception was weak, with IMDb voters giving it 3.4 out of 10 and TMDB users 3.8 out of 10. Critics were harsher still, scoring it 2.9 out of 10 across 99 reviews, lower than the audience figures.