Playback

2012 "Picture. Evil."
4.3| 1h35m| R| en| More Info
Released: 09 March 2012 Released
Producted By: Bennett-Robbins Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.playbackthemovie.com
Info

While digging into their town's infamous past, a group of high school students unwittingly unlock an even darker secret. Now, an evil spirit has been awakened and will stop at nothing to find his true heir.

Genre

Horror, Thriller

Watch Online

Playback (2012) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Michael A. Nickles

Production Companies

Bennett-Robbins Productions

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Playback Videos and Images
View All

Playback Audience Reviews

Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism
Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
TdSmth5 In the intro, some guy beats up a girl, we see a woman in a bathroom with her throat slashed, the girl screams about her baby, he kills her and grabs the baby. Now he's doing all this while filming it. When the cops arrive, they shoot him--the camera right next to the baby. Years later some high school kids work on a film project for class recreating the killings. There's the main kid Julian, his gorgeous girlfriend, another couple that are friends, and some other girl. Lending them some equipment is a creepy kid Quinn with a creepy van who works at a TV station. He has some deal with a corrupt cop and provides him with peeping tom videos of high school girls. One day Julian asks Quinn to find him some of the real life footage of the murders from the intro. Quinn with the help of the cop finds some and looks at them. Something happens to him while he watches. He develops some power to affect others by touching the TV screen that is focused on them. In that fashion, he manages to turn two girls into killers, as well as killing them afterward. His face also starts to rot.Another issue is relevant. The first guy to have taken a picture and movie footage was thought to be demonic. Both Julian and Quinn see the footage. We also discover that the killer from the intro is a descendant of the early filmmaker. Julian's mom is a cop and starts snooping into what Julian is doing, when he discovers a secret. Of course Quinn will flip out and attack Julian and his girl.Playback goes beyond most movies of its kind. It could easily have focused on the serial killer and family issue or on the evil film pioneer, instead it combined both, but doesn't make these relevant enough. There is also an interesting twist in terms of the identities of some of our main characters, but it too could have been filmed in a way that the revelation is more powerful. Acting is alright for a B movie. Slater gets a short and not very relevant role. Ambyr Childers is gorgeous. The problem is though that the writer/director is a better writer than he is a director. Playback is enjoyable but clearly there was more potential in the story.
atinder Playback (2012)This was not as thought it would be but it not all the great either. I really liked the opening scenes in this movie, it kinds grabs you really fast but it shame next 20 minutes which I thought the movies was moving a little slow at times. I liked the plot the movies, It bit like ring in so-what different way and I did enjoy some of death scenes in this movie. What did annoy me the most about this movie, there are far to many of the flashing scenes in this movie, which may give some people HeadacheI did not find the movie boring at all, it get intruded throughout the whole movie. The acting was not all great from most cast then were some decent well know actors in this movie.I going to give this movie 4 out of 10 Worth watching!
Nitzan Havoc I don't usually do this, but some of you might stumble upon a review by IMDb username tlsmith-569-716188 as the visible review on this film's page. Aside from mistaking Christian Slater for Christian Bale, it's obviously biased and written by either someone who took part in the making of this film, or someone to related to such a person. Do your part and click "no". We deserve more integrity.Having said that, let's get back to "Playback". I must say that while I did enjoy watching it, I couldn't help but finding the screenplay and story lacking. The idea is nice while not all that original (The Ring has already given us "evil from a videotape" and this was simply too similar), but the twist was too obvious and predictable. A good plot twist is one where the balance between the hints given and the element of surprise upon the discovery is kept. In this case - the hints were too thick, and the surprise was gone. That might be because I'm a Horror freak and have watched many Horror and Thriller films, but I can't help but expect more.The second thing, which was really sad for me, was Christian Slater's roll. Oh my, how the great ones have fallen and been humbled to a shady background role of a semi-pedophile creep. I'd hate to think that after his illustrious career Slater has been degraded to his role here. Depressing.However, while not being the best film ever, Playback is far from being bad. The effects and cinematography were very impressive, the original indie-rock soundtrack was great and is in my opinion good enough to purchase if available, and the way some of the scenes shot by the kids in the movie end up realized by the killer was very nice. But the best thing about this film is for sure Toby Hemingway's acting (and a great job by the make-up department). Hemingway was superb, and I look forward to seeing him in other films!All in all, like I've mentioned, Playback wasn't the best film ever, nor the worst. It had its moment, and while it could have been a lot better - it could have been a lot worse too. I personally rate it a 6, but recommend that you give it a shot.
j c I took a step back after watching this movie to really appreciate the cinematography and dialogue that this film contains. It almost hearkens back to a classic film noir detective film with non stop action, horror and suspense built in.I enjoyed Mel Gibson's moody character and dynamic acting. This could really bring his entire career into the spotlight again and back to the top of the A list. There was this one actor who kinda looked like a cross between a young Jack Nicholson and that guy who played Dylan on 90210 who played a moody and secretive detective. He was amazing too.There are not enough creative adjectives to properly describe this film. I could only give 9 stars because my only real disappointment was that it ended.