Gillian Anderson was attracted to the material because she found it alarmingly dark. Following The X-Files (1993), she was bombarded with supernatural and costume dramas, so the allure of a contemporary thriller with something to say about retribution proved very tempting.
Times Online featured this as one of "The 100 best films of 2007."
The film was partly inspired by writer-director Dan Reed. He had interrupted a rape-in-progress years earlier, and said the incident gave him nightmares.