By: JWBM
This is a horror film that mixes a ghostly tale from the past with video technology of the present. Back in '94, a young man by the name of Harlan Diehl films himself going "Amityville Horror" on his family. Now in 2012, a group of pretty and privileged seniors are making a shoe-string budget horror film to re-enact the murders without actually knowing all that much about the inner details. Julian—the director—digs a little further into this hush-hush story that the town would rather forget, but eventually finds himself neck deep to escape the clutches of something more sinister.
The biggest issue with "Playback" is it's too caught up with little subplots and substanceless filler. The pacing is likened to an everyday high school drama-lite that attempts to evolve into a more serious horror film. The two tones feel separate enough that one could draw a distinguishable line between, rather than providing a smooth overlap that would lure one in. I can see the logic: to get to know the characters and to make a surreal situation feel real, though it also never attempts to make them interesting past what they look like on the outside.
This plays out more as a cut and dry, back and forth experience: one moment things are a fun and promising party, to the next attempting to play investigative journalist, to then actually concentrating on the horror. About two-thirds of the way through, when things should be coming to a heart-racing culmination, it starts to lose its bearings and has trouble gaining momentum. You're left to watch the creepy post-graduate guy drive around town in his kidnapper's looking van in a fit of self-loathing, while the hopeful main star simultaneously attempts to put the pieces together of the mystery surrounding the Diehl murders.
The coolest set-up this movie had going for it was the opening when the murders were taking place. The atmosphere was at an all time high with these nightmare-like first person shots and a scratchy effect layered in. You had no idea what was going on, though it grabbed you by the throat and didn't let go. Sure there's gore and violence sprinkled about, but it's not as effective as, say, building up to it to make the audience feel the impact. The horror formula that follows after feels muddled; your brain works more to connect the dots than to find a way to run and hide. Then there are other awkward side-plots such as the character of Frank Lyons—Christian Slater—being a random pervert who pays for tapes of girls of questionable age.
As many cliches and predictable moments as there are, this isn't an outright terrible film. What saves it in areas, is the acting is mostly natural, the dialogue has a certain smoothness to it, and the direction and editing while the individual scenes are played out have a certain flow. It's just not able to come together as a whole and overcome being an overall average horror experience due to a focus that is either here or there.
Rating: 5/10
Director: Michael A. Nickles (Do You Wanna Dance?; This Is Not a Film)
Actors: Johnny Pacar, Ambyr Childers, Toby Hemingway, Christian Slater
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link
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