(2010)

Submitted by Julio M

Short version:
Annie’s (Liana Liberato) rapist, whom everyone only came to know as “Charlie” (Chris Henry Coffey), goes untraced and is never caught. The aftermath of her sexual assault eventually leads her to attempt suicide and be hospitalized as a result. She recovers and makes amends with her father Will (Clive Owen), who blamed himself for not being more protective of her. In the end, we discover that “Charlie” is actually a respectable family man who leads a perverse, secret double life.

Long version:
“Charlie” proves to be effectively elusive after he breaks contact with Annie and can be no longer traced online; meanwhile, Annie is in denial of having been sexually assaulted, instead believing “Charlie” truly is in love with her, until she is shown evidence of “Charlie” having done the same to other girls, which forces her to admit the harsh truth.

This incident takes a severe toll on Annie’s life, as well as her family’s: her father Will becomes obsessed with catching the predator, but it leads him nowhere, which, in turn, further alienates him from his wife Lynn (Catherine Keener) and his two other children. Annie struggles to move on from it all, but finds herself an outcast amongst her peers. Her best friend, Brittany (Zoe Levin), tells her about a website where she is being “cyber-shamed” and all but posted as a shameless prostitute. Having hit her breaking point, she overdoses on pills in her bathroom; nonetheless, she is found in time by her parents and hospitalized. Upon being released, she tearfully asks Will to stop blaming himself for “not trying hard enough to protect her”. They both embrace and forgive each other, thus finally finding a catharsis.

The final sequence of the movie, which is seen as the credits start rolling, is a home-video-like image, revealing that “Charlie” is, in reality, a middle-age, respected and well-liked High School teacher named Graham Weston, who happens to also be married with a young child of his own. It is to be inferred that he will go on secretly as an online sexual predator, without being caught or punished for his crimes.